Life
Gabi Dixson is an American professional strongwoman and personal trainer from Portland, Oregon. She is the oldest of six children and attended Concordia University in Portland, where she studied psychology. She was formerly a Social Worker in the state of Washington, but put that career on hold to focus on her athletic development.
A former collegiate discus thrower, she moved to New Zealand, along with some of her teammates, to play rugby after having previously played for a year at ORSU in Portland. She has also been the lead singer in a couple of bands.
Gabi loves the outdoors, especially during the summertime, and being near water. She has numerous “side hustles”, her favourite being dog or house sitting. She’s currently not able to own her own dog, due to traveling so much, so instead she loves to care for other people’s pets, just absolutely NO snakes!
Career
Gabi has been playing sports her whole life and began lifting in high school to support her discus throwing. Throughout her collegiate career she was a four-times national champion and fourteen-time all-American in college for various throwing events. She also played basketball, volleyball, soccer, as well as rugby.
Post-college, she trained for discus for two years, continuing her strength development in the weight room. As her passion for throwing subsided, in 2016 she received an advertisement from her local gym for the first season of, “Next Olympic Hopeful” – a TV show to find crossover athletes and lead them into lesser-known Olympic sports. She auditioned and though initially was put through for Skeleton Bobsleigh, was eventually encouraged to pursue rugby.
After learning to play in Portland, and quickly establishing herself in their premier team she and some of her teammates relocated to New Zealand in order to further their skills. One of her new clubmates in the North Island invited her to train at a strongman gym and soon after she entered Auckland’s Strongest Woman, finishing 4th.
Having played a season of Premier League rugby in the South Island she received an invite to compete in New Zealand’s Strongest Woman, which she could only begin training for once the season had finished, leaving her just six weeks to train. Having won that contest she returned to the United States and began training exclusively for strongwoman and powerlifting.
Having won the 2020 USAP Drug Tested Fall Power Classic, in powerlifting, and added the USPA National Title and the IPL World Title, the following year, Gabi returned to Strongwoman, placing 5th at World’s Strongest Woman. In 2022 she was runner-up at both the Rainier Classic Pro Am, where she won the Car Deadlift, completing an incredible 29 repetitions, and the Beerstone Classic.
Best Title
After only a handful of contests Gabi competed at the 2021 World’s Strongest Woman in Daytona Beach, Florida and finished a highly creditable 5th overall. More impressively, considering her lack of experience, is that she managed to win two events, the Deadlift Ladder and the Car Walk.
Gabi won New Zealand’s Strongest Woman in 2020, after previously finishing 4th at Auckland’s Strongest Woman and receiving an invite with just six weeks to prepare.
Competition Results
Strongwoman
Powerlifting
Best Lifts
Competition Lifts
Powerlifting
Training
Present Day
Dixson’s intention is to win World’s Strongest Woman and she is extremely excited to be representing Team USA at the Giants Live World’s Strongest Nation contest at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on November 26th.
She is passionate about increasing representation in sports and feels it is hugely important for to create a platform for more women of her size and race. In her own words: “We need more women of colour, and more big girls out here to show ’em how it’s done!”
Media
On Facebook, she can be found under Gabi Dixson, where she keeps her followers updated with her training, competing and everyday life.
https://www.facebook.com/gabi.dixson
She is also active on Instagram, where she has the handle: @gabigrl_prostrongwoman, on TikTok: gabidixson and YouTube: Gabi Dixson.
In 2017 Gabi took part in the NBC two-hour special, Next Olympic Hopefuls, aired on their Sports Network, in which athletes from across America were put through a gruelling battery of tests and skill work to find crossover sports in lesser-known Olympic disciplines.
