BIG IS BEAUTIFUL

The transformation of a young woman to one of the heaviest woman powerlifters in the world

- POOJA BIRAIA JAISWAL

For 10 years she was a lean and fit professional kickboxer at 70kg. And then, in just a few years, she turned herself into a powerlifter weighing 159kg. What could possibly be the motivation for a woman to undergo a bewildering transformation? “To make a statement on body positivity and emphasise that big isn’t bad and shameful,” says Dutchwoman Jackie Koorn, one of the heaviest woman powerlifters in the world. Calling herself the ‘She-Hulk’, after one of Marvel’s most notable and powerful female superheroes, Koorn boasts biceps like cantaloupes. But unlike Marvel’s She-Hulk, who had a waist-to-hip ratio of a lingerie model, Koorn is fatter and heavier. At her weight and height (5ft 7 inches), she far surpasses the body type of professional female powerlifters, but claims to be able to lift “better than most”. An average day at the gym for Koorn looks something like this— bench press 200kg, leg press 450kg, daily strength training from 80kg to 450kg, 100kg on a lat pulldown machine, 50kg dumbbells and 100 squats a day.

“A lot of men who think of themselves as macho, too, cannot do these weights,” she tells THE WEEK over Zoom. “At the wrestling academy, I lifted the men on my back, but they couldn’t lift me because I was too heavy for their backs.”