This 91-year-old grandmother was Miss Singapore for 3 years. She used to dead lift 109kg.

How standards of beauty have changed over the years.

Belmont Lay| April 21, 05:03 PM

Contented.cc, a website with writers who are guilty of pleonasm, has done justice to the profligate use of words with this uber interesting profile piece on a feisty grandmother Madam Ho Lye Toh.

Ho's fascinating past -- as told to their writer Alyssa Woo -- includes being a former weightlifter, taking part in a beauty pageant unknowingly and going on to become a three-time Miss Singapore winner in 1941, 1946 and 1947.

The grandmother is turning 92 this year.

Some of the photos in the article include:

Madam Ho pictured at the beauty pageant on the far left:

Madam-Ho-Lye-Toh-02

 

Madam Ho doing a snatch lift:

Madam-Ho-Lye-Toh-03

Regarding how she got into the whole beauty queen thing, it was her father, Ho Peng Khoen, a former Malayan Weight Lifting Champion who had signed her and her cousin up for the Miss Singapore contest in 1941 -- when Ho was 18.

Her dad frequently did public weight lifting demonstrations and they thought they were there for the weight lifting gig, until she was told to wear a cheongsam.

Madam Ho said of the pageant:

“There were 16 of us, majority were Europeans. My cousin and I were the only ones who were Chinese. I was so tired that night because the competition stretched till 12am, past my 9pm bedtime. But my father was adamant about waiting to hear the results so I napped in the car.”

The winner, by popular vote, was Madam Ho.

Unfortunately, her Miss Singapore sash was burned by her mother out of fear during the Japanese occupation.

You can read the rest of her interesting life, such as how much she can lift and view more of her pictures, via contented.cc.

 

Photos via contented.cc

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