Our Director, Dr. Jan Todd, has always had a special affinity for Katharina Brumbach, or as she is known by her stage name, Katie Sandwina. Dr. Todd began her weightlifting career in 1973 after accompanying her husband, powerlifting icon Terry Todd, to the gym. After deadlifting 225 pounds in her first workout, she asked her husband why there weren’t more women lifting (in 1973 there were no women’s powerlifting, bodybuilding, or weightlifting contests). This was when she first learned of Katie Sandwina, who’d been a center-ring attraction in Barnum and Bailey’s circus during the 1911 and 1912 seasons and possessed...