IN HER OWN WORDS:

I am the strongest woman in the world. That is a broad statement I admit but I have demonstrated it’s truth hundreds of times; am doing it every day, in fact, as part of my regular work as a professional strongwoman and all around athlete. Let me cite a single circumstance that you may visualize my physical powers- particularly astonishing, especially when you consider that they are possessed by on of the so-called "weaker" sex. Louis Cyr. Premier weightlifting marvel and monarch of all strongmen of recent times, lifted 4,000 pounds on his broad, bulging, muscular back, and the amazed world gasped. Cyr weighed 375 pounds. I can and have lifted 3,500 pounds upon my not so broad shoulders. And I tip the scales at but 120 pounds. The total weight I have lifted exceeds by hundreds of pounds the maximum raised by any other strongwoman. Few brawny male giants have made a showing equal to mine, and some of my feats of strength never have been duplicated by any man. Though at first glance I do not give the impression of being the superlatively strong woman that I truly am—because of my comparatively light weight and medium height. I rejoice in the fact that my achievements have caused the press and the public to confer upon me the titles of "Feminine Hercules" and "The Atlas of the Fair Sex". Give me a bar of cold, stubborn steel and I will fashion it into a horseshoe with my bare hands. Let me rest my back upon a plank studded with long sharp spikes and I will support upon my chest 3,000 pounds of stone. And, while I am thus weighted down, with needle like spikes trying to tear into my back in a thousand places, you may bring on the best sledgehammer manipulators in America and let them try to make me wince or whimper while they pound away with their mightiest swings. And I can take a man’s place in the squared circle, on the mat or in the gym, and more than hold my own. For I have as many knockouts to my credit as many men who have achieved championship honors with the mitts, and I know the wrestling game from a-z. But if you have not seen me, do not picture me as an overdeveloped freak, with bulging muscles which rob me of all beauty and contour and a face lined and hard from years of training and persistent exertion. For the contrary is the case. I possess a face and figure of which any prima-donna would be proud, and the good looks and form which god gave me have been enhanced by my mode of living. Some women are content with a beautiful face. But there is no genuine beauty unless the body is as splendid as the features. And as the beautiful body will remain only if carefully nurtured and systematically exercised, i insist that the athletically developed woman is bound to be more beautiful that her less energetic sisters.
 Marta was born Martha Kahn in Vienna, Austria, in 1903. Her parents were acrobats who began teaching their daughter to balance and tumble almost as soon as she could walk.

Some details (website "Iron ladies of the old times"):
Marta Farra (Iron Martha) was born in 1903 in Vienna, Austria. Her maiden name was Martha Khan. She weighed just 55 kilograms. Her parents were circus acrobats, and since she was a baby Marta learned to be an equilibrist and to accomplish somersaults. In 1924, she proclaimed herself to be the strongest woman of the world - she was capable to lift a platform of 3500 pound (1587 kilograms) to 75 centimeters over the floor. There is the famous photograph where she can be seen trying to lift a young elephant standing on a platform. In reality, however, it turned out later that the stunt with the platform was just a trick. Besides powerlifting she practiced in freestyle wrestling and participated in some wrestling matches.