Tara Webber will be attending the upcoming Olympia in Las Vegas.
Powerlifter

Record-holding powerlifter to compete in one of world’s biggest events

Sep 18, 2025 | 4:54 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Prince George’s powerlifting and body building community continues to make waves across the world, as Prince George athletes keep on setting records and being invited to high profile events. And among them is Tara Webber, who has been invited to the 2025 Olympia Fitness and Performance Weekend in Las Vegas.

“It’s super fun to be part of it. There’s thousands of people there, so with a crowd that big it’s hard not to kind of get caught up in the energy of it,” Webber said.

Webber is no stranger to the Olympia, as she’s attended several times due to her prolific resume as a powerlifter. Webber said she doesn’t like to keep track of all of her records and what specific titles she holds, joking that she leaves that to her husband Mike, but her long list of accolades includes:

  • Being the lightest woman ever to squat 700 pounds
  • Two-time winner of the World Powerlifting Organization Invite-only event, which Webber says is the world’s largest equipped powerlifting met.
  • Top-20 all time list for squats

Webber added she believes she is on the fringes of making the top-20 all time list for bench press as well, and she hopes to make her way on the list with a strong showing at the Olympia.

“I think that if I lifted 440 pounds, I would be back into the top 20 for all time bench press,” Webber said.

She believes she’ll have a boost at the Olympia thanks to the size of the event and all the people it draws, as Webber says the energy and excitement of the event also pushes her to be her best.

“It’s just fun because there’s so many regular people there. So for them, it’s not a normal thing to see people benching, hundreds, or sometimes 1,000 pounds. For us, when we go to a powerlifting meet, we’re kind of all used to it, so it’s not quite as exciting for other powerlifters to be watching. but the general public, they get super pumped up,” Webber said.

“I definitely feed off the crowd. I think some people don’t like the crowd and maybe don’t compete their best, on a big stage, but I tend to have my best meets at some of the biggest meets,” she continued.

Webber normally competes in the trio of events of bench press, squats, and deadlifting. However, due to injury, she will only do benchpress this year.

“There’s a lot less pressure in training to make all three lifts go up. So that part has been nice, it’ll be more fun just because it feels like there’s a lot less pressure. I’ve got only one thing to focus on,” Webber said.

While she has immediate goals set for the upcoming Olympia, Webber adds this is part of a larger decade-long ambition of attending one World Powerlifting Organization a year and making it on the podium. This is year eight, so she is getting close to achieving that incredible milestone.

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