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| Birth name | Gregg Ernst | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | September 30, 1961 Lunenburg, Nova Scotia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Strongman Powerlifting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6ft (1.83m ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Gregg Ernst (born September 30, 1961), is a former strongman competitor and powerlifter from Nova Scotia Canada.
Ernst is best known for competing in the 1991 and 1992 World's Strongest Man competitions, finishing 6th and 7th respectively. [1] Gregg began lifting at age 12 when his father bought him a set of weights for Christmas. [2] By age 21, Ernst was a powerlifting world champion, winning the Atlantic Powerlifting Championships in 1982 and 1983. [2] Gregg also won Canada's Strongest Man in 1990 & 1991, and the Nova Scotia Farmer's Walk in 1988 and 1989. [2] Gregg once backlifted 2422 kg (app. 5,340 lbs.) of two cars on a platform to set a world record for live weight backlifting in July 1993. This record still stands today. [2] [3] [4] At the 1992 World's Strongest Man contest in Iceland, Ernst set a world record in the Husafell Stone carry, carrying the 410 lb. stone 70 meters, narrowly edging Andrés Guðmundsson's near two full revolutions around the original pen. [4] The record stood for 25 years until the emergence of Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.
Ernst is also a blacksmith and a beef farmer, plays several instruments, [3] and sang professionally with his four oldest sons. [5]
Louis Cyr was a Canadian strongman with a career spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Based on his recorded feats, including lifting 500 pounds (227 kg) with one finger and backlifting 4,337 pounds (1,967 kg), former International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation chairman Ben Weider stated in 2000, that Cyr is the strongest man ever. Since his strength was so far above and beyond the ordinary during his time, he and his contemporary Louis 'Apollon' Uni were collectively called the 'Kings of Strength'.
Jón Páll Sigmarsson was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Strongest Man four times and the first and only man to win the World Muscle Power Classic five times.
Magnús Ver Magnússon is an Icelandic former powerlifter and strongman competitor. He is a four-time World's Strongest Man, having won in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of all time.
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.
Strength athletics is the collection of strength sports which measure physical strength, based on both: non-standard and historical implements as seen in Strongman and Highland games, and standardized and calibrated equipment as seen in Powerlifting and Weightlifting.
William Kazmaier is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During his illustrious career, he set over 40 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 greatest strength athletes of all-time, and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
Nick Best is an American strongman and powerlifter.
Thomas Inch was a British Strongman, who held the titles of Britain's Strongest Youth, Britain's Strong Man and the originator of the Thomas Inch dumbbell challenge.
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.
Thomas Magee is a Canadian former world champion powerlifter and strongman competitor from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was also a bodybuilder and a professional wrestler from 1985–1990.
Louis-Phillipe Jean is a Canadian strongman competitor and entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition on multiple occasions.
Oders Dell Wilson Jr. was an American world champion powerlifter and a strongman competitor. Wilson was known by the nickname "the Nightmare", due to his size.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is an Icelandic professional strongman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all time. He is the first and only person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, the Europe's Strongest Man, and the World's Strongest Man competitions in the same calendar year and holds numerous Strongman titles from multiple strength federations, including multiple world records. With 31 international competition wins, he is the third most decorated strongman in history, behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas and Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski, and in terms of pure brute strength and with over 100 world records, many strength analysts and Strongman experts regard Hafþór as "the strongest man to have ever lived".
Hjalti 'Úrsus' Árnason, is an Icelandic former strongman, powerlifter and a strength sports promoter. Known by the nickname 'The Great Ursus', Hjalti first began in strength sports by competing as a junior powerlifter in 1983. He also coached Jón Páll Sigmarsson and won the 1988 Le Defi Mark Ten International. Hjalti also competed with Magnús Ver Magnússon in Pure Strength team competitions in 1989 & 1990.
Peter Tregloan is a British former strongman and powerlifter. He has won a number of titles including nine world championships in powerlifting and is the current world record holder in squat, deadlift and total weight for the masters age class.
The Húsafell Stone is a legendary lifting stone weighing 186 kg (410 lb) located in a west country farming estate in Húsafell, Iceland about 132 km (82 mi) northeast of Reykjavík. The slightly triangular, slab shaped stone is kept at a sheep and goat pen built from natural stones by Reverend Snorri Björnsson around 1756, and was made famous by the legend of his daughter Guðný Snorradóttir carrying it. The stone has been used as a test of physical strength by either simply lifting the stone, or by lifting and carrying it around the sheep and goat pen. The stone is also known as pen slab (Kvíahellan in Icelandic), because its original purpose was to act as the gate to the sheep and goat pen, ensuring the animals remain in the pen without escaping.
Jean-François 'JF' Caron is a French-Canadian strongman and powerlifter from Les Hauteurs, Quebec, Canada. Having competed in 73 International strongman competitions and winning 10 of them including World's Strongest Viking twice, Caron is among the 20 most decorated strongmen of all time.
Luke Skaarup is a professional engineer and also a retired professional strongman from Canada who competed actively in the sport of strongman from 2007 to 2015. During his competitive career, he held many records, most notably the Canadian record for heaviest atlas stone ever lifted in competition, the Ontario record for heaviest deadlift, and the Ontario Record heaviest dumbbell press. He competed in over sixty competitions with his top placings being the 2 x Ontario's Strongest Man Champion, 4th at North America's Strongest Man (2014), and 8th at the World Amateur Strongman Championships (2012).
David Pirie Webster, OBE was a Scottish author, historian, and sports promoter living in Glasgow. Webster was the organiser of the Highland Games around the world for over 50 years.