Vasily Ivanovich Alekseyev was a Soviet weightlifter. He set 80 world records and 81 Soviet records in weightlifting and won Olympic gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 games.
Louis Cyr was a Quebecois strongman with a career spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His recorded feats, including lifting 500 pounds (227 kg) with one finger and backlifting 4,337 pounds (1,967 kg)(2 tons), show Cyr to be, according to former International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness chairman Ben Weider, one of the strongest men ever to have lived.
Naim Süleymanoğlu was a Turkish Olympic weightlifter. He was a seven-time World Weightlifting champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist who set 46 world records. The 147cm Süleymanoğlu's short stature and great strength led to him being nicknamed "Pocket Hercules". He is widely considered as one of the greatest Olympic weightlifters of all time. He is the best pound-for-pound weightlifter in the history of weightlifting.
The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of December each year. Competitors qualify based on placing in the top three at the four to eight Giants Live events each year.
Mark Jerrold Henry is an American powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter, strongman, and retired professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a commentator for AEW Rampage. He also performs duties as a coach and a talent scout. He is best known for his 25-year career in WWE where he was a two-time world champion. He is a two-time Olympian and a gold, silver, and bronze medalist at the Pan American Games in 1995. As a powerlifter, he was WDFPF World Champion (1995) and a two-time U.S. National Champion as well as an all-time raw world record holder in the squat and deadlift. Currently, he still holds the WDFPF world records in the squat, deadlift and total and the USAPL American record in the deadlift since 1995. He is credited for the biggest raw squat and raw powerlifting total ever performed by a drug tested athlete, regardless of weight class, as well as the greatest raw deadlift by an American citizen.
Scot Mendelson is an American armwrestler and powerlifter, who specializes in the bench press. He has broken multiple world records and is currently the raw (unassisted) world record holder in the 308-pound weight class with 701 lb (318 kg) bench press since 2002 and the equipped world record holder in the 275-pound class with 1,031 lb (468 kg) bench press since 2009. He also held the all-time world record in the raw bench press, regardless of weight class with 715 lb (324 kg) for 8 years. Working as a self-employed personal trainer, he runs his own gym called F.I.T.
Douglas Ivan Hepburn was a Canadian strongman and weightlifter. He won weightlifting gold medals in the 1953 World Weightlifting Championships as well as the 1954 British Empire Games in the heavyweight division. He is also known as the first man to bench press 400, 450, 500, and 550 pounds (raw). During the 1950s he was publicly known as the "world's strongest man" for his many feats of strength. Hepburn has been inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1953), Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1955), and the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame (1966).
A medicine ball is a weighted ball whose diameter is about a shoulder-width,, often used for rehabilitation and strength training. The medicine ball also serves an important role in the field of sports medicine to improve strength and neuromuscular coordination. It is distinct from the inflated exercise ball, which is larger.
Paul Edward Anderson was an American weightlifter, strongman and powerlifter. He was an Olympic gold medalist, a world champion, and a two-time national champion in Olympic weightlifting. Anderson contributed significantly to the development of competitive powerlifting.
William Kazmaier is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During the 1970s and 1980s, he set numerous powerlifting and strongman world records, and won two International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Championships and three World's Strongest Man titles. In the 1980s, Kazmaier became famous for his claim to be "the strongest man who ever lived" by equaling and surpassing spectacular and versatile feats of strength of famous strongmen of the 20th century. He is widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest competitors in strength competitions.
Donald C. Reinhoudt is an American former powerlifter and strongman. He won the IPF World Powerlifting Superheavyweight Championship four consecutive times (1973–1976), and won the World's Strongest Man in 1979.
Bench press world records are the international records in bench press across the years, regardless of weight class or governing organization, for bench pressing on the back without using a bridge technique.
Hermann Görner, was a famous German strongman. Görner performed in various countries and achieved feats of strength rarely matched to this day, most notably in lifts requiring exceptional gripping strength.
Anthony Wayne Clark was an American powerlifter, holder of the world record for the reverse-grip bench press and member of the York Barbell Hall of Fame.
Edward "Ed" Ignatius Coan is an American powerlifter. He is widely regarded throughout the powerlifting world as the greatest powerlifter of all time. Coan has set over 71 world records in powerlifting.
Warren Lincoln Travis was the first famous strongman in the United States of America and a world champion back and hip lifter, who performed feats of strength on Coney Island in the first quarter of the 20th century.
Brad Gillingham is an American world champion powerlifter and strongman competitor from Minnesota, United States.
John William Rudd is an American former basketball player for the New York Knicks. He played forward. He was listed at 6'7" and 230 pounds. He was born on August 7, 1955 in DeRidder, Louisiana. He attended McNeese State University. His first game was on October 31, 1978.
Jon Frederic Cole was a powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter and strongman from the United States. He competed in powerlifting just prior to the formation of the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). Having set world records in the squat, deadlift and Total during his career, he was multiple times AAU US National Powerlifting Champion as well as an outstanding Olympic weightlifter, discus thrower and shot-putter. Being the "premier strongman" of the early 1970s for his overall excellence in powerlifting, Olympic lifting and strength-based track and field, Cole was at one time known as the "strongest man in the world" for holding the greatest combined powerlifting/weightlifting super total of all time. Jon Cole was not only officially the first man in history to total 2200 lbs, he also became the first man to squat over 900 lbs as well as the first to total 2300 lbs in competition on October 28, 1972. Today, he is enjoying legendary status in the powerlifting scene and is widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest powerlifters in the history of the sport. His lifts, which are considered as raw by today's standards, are still mostly unequaled in his weight class: He still holds the all-time greatest raw (unequipped) powerlifting totals in the 242 and the 308-pound division. While past his prime as a lifter, he competed in the first annual World's Strongest Man competition in 1977, where he finished in 6th place.
James Talbot Williams was a record holding professional competitive powerlifter from the United States of America. He competed in powerlifting just prior to the formation of the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). During the early 1970s he set numerous bench press national and world records in the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). On November 9, 1972, he performed his greatest official bench press of 675 lbs, which is considered raw by today's standards. Since that day Jim Williams is officially the first man in history to bench press 300 kg (661.41 bs) in competition - since 1981 however, Bill Kazmaier is given credit for being the first person to bench press 300 kg after the formation of the IPF - the international governing body for the sport of powerlifting. By consistently pressing 650+ lbs raw and even touching 700+ lbs in training, Williams was without competition in his time and still is one of only 5-10 men in history who bench pressed in excess of 670 lbs officially.
United States