Most young women have the same desires — they want to lose weight, make an office career and marry successful¬ly. But among the hundreds of thousands of girls in Kyiv, Anya Mykhailenko has set a complete¬ly different goal in life. She is gaining weight, quit her office job and is not even dreaming about marriage as she is aspiring to become the world's strongest woman.
Anya started her career in power lifting four years ago and plans to set the world bench press record at the upcoming world power lifting champi-onship. Anya has already set one record in the deadlift with straps. Wrist straps (also known as cow ties or lifting straps) are often used to facili¬tate the grip when lifting heavy weights. The straps are wrapped around the wrist and tucked around the bar being lifted, thereby transfer¬ring some of the weight directly to the wrist instead of through the fingers. Anya can lift 305 kg — an absolute world record for women — though so far unofficial. Among the official awards Anya has silver and bronze medals in world bodybuilding cham¬pionships, the Ukrainian All-Round Strength Championship and the arm wrestling championship in St. Petersburg.