Ettiene Smit | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Etienne Smit June 15, 1974 |
| Occupation | Strongman |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Title | 6 times South Africa's Strongest Man |
Ettiene Smit [1] (born 15 June 1974) [2] is a South African strongman competitor and entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition. [3]
Etienne Smith was born in Johannesburg. He started his strength athletics career at the age of 26 and within five years had become crowned South Africa's strongest man. From 2004 to 2009 he did not relinquish this title winning a record six times in a row. He has stated that his international presence in strength athletics has been curtailed by financial difficulties, although he was able to take up an invitation to the prestigious World's Strongest Man in both 2009 and 2010. Aside from strength athletics, he owns a restaurant in Pretoria, South Africa. [2]
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. The current event sponsor is SBD Apparel. Previous sponsors include Tachi Palace, Coregenx, Commerce Hotel and Casino, DAF Trucks, Tonka, MET-Rx, and PartyPoker.com.
Geoffrey Lewis Capes is a British former shot putter, strongman and professional Highland Games competitor.
John William Smit, OIS, is a South African former professional rugby union player and former chief executive officer of the Sharks. He was the 50th captain of the Springbok rugby union team and led the team to win the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He played most of his senior career as a hooker, but also won 13 caps as a prop, where he had also played for South Africa's under-21 team. He retired from international rugby following the 2011 Rugby World Cup as the most-capped South African player ever, with 111 appearances.
Žydrūnas Savickas is a Lithuanian powerlifter and professional strongman. Due to his 84 international wins in major international strongman competitions including four World's Strongest Man championships, eight Arnold Strongman Classic championships, two IFSA Strongman World Championships, and over 70 world records, he is widely regarded as the greatest strength athlete of all time.
Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne.
The International Federation of Strength Athletes was an international governing body for strongman competition. IFSA operated from 1995 to 2007 and was based in Glasgow, Scotland.
The World's Strongest Man 2009 was the 32nd edition of World's Strongest Man and took place in Valletta, Malta from 26 September to 3 October 2009. It was sponsored by PartyPoker.com. It was anticipated by the strength athletics world as promising to be "the best one yet." The anticipation was based on the organisers ensuring invites were made to "every top athlete in the world" regardless of their affiliation to any particular strength athletics body. In previous years, the schism between the International Federation of Strength Athletes and the organisers of WSM had meant that certain athletes were forbidden to compete, undermining the credentials of the competition.
Stefán Sölvi Pétursson is an Icelandic strongman and a finalist of the World's Strongest Man competition, winning 4th place in the 2010 World's Strongest Man competition held in Sun City and 9th place in the 2011 World's Strongest Man competition held in Wingate, North Carolina. He has also won Icelandic Strongman competitions multiple times including Iceland’s Strongest Man in 2009 and 2010.
Laurence Cristiaan David Shahlaei is an English YouTuber, strength sports commentator, analyst, coach, and a retired strongman and powerlifting competitor. He won the 2016 Europe's Strongest Man competition. He is also the winner of England's Strongest Man (2009) and Britain's Strongest Man local strongman competitions.
Darren Sadler is a British former strongman competitor, winner of the World Strongman Challenge in the under 105 kg category, and notable for being a repeat competitor at the World's Strongest Man despite his comparatively small stature. He is also the co-founder of the Giant's Live Tour together with Colin Bryce.
Brian Shaw is an American retired professional strongman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all-time. He won the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016 World's Strongest Man, making him one of only five men to win the World’s Strongest Man four times or more. In 2011, Shaw became the first man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic and the World's Strongest Man competitions in the same calendar year, a feat he replicated in 2015. With 27 international competition wins, he is the fourth most decorated strongman in history behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas, Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski and Iceland's Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.
Ervin Katona is a Serbian strongman competitor and regular entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition. He has competed in 99 International strongman competitions and have won 17 of them, making him the seventh most decorated strongman in history.
Jimmy Laureys is a Belgian powerlifter and strongman competitor.
Gerrit Badenhorst is a former WPC world champion powerlifter and professional strongman competitor from South Africa.
Mark Philippi is an American world champion powerlifter and strongman competitor. Philippi is a multiple entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition, and former holder of the America's Strongest Man title.
Kristinn Óskar Boris Haraldsson is an Icelandic strongman competitor. As well as being a multiple holder of Iceland's Strongest Man, he has competed on multiple occasions at the World's Strongest Man.
Mark Westaby is a British strongman competitor, notable for being a repeat competitor at the World's Strongest Man.
South Africa's Strongest Man is an annual strongman competition held in South Africa and features primarily South African strength athletes. Gerrit Badenhorst and Ettiene Smit has now won the title 8 times.
Jack McIntosh is a British strongman competitor, who was the youngest competitor at the 2011 World's Strongest Man.
Fraser Tranter is a British strongman competitor, most notable for his appearance at the 1998 World's Strongest Man, as well as his podium finishes in the 1997 and 1998 UK Strongman Docklands Challenge, a national strength athletics competition which at the time held equivalent status to Britain's Strongest Man.
