Jason Kristal | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jason Kristal 1979 (age 42–43)  United States |
| Occupation | Strongman |
| Competition record | ||
|---|---|---|
| America's Strongest Man | ||
| 1st | 2008 | |
Jason Kristal (born on 1979 [1] ) is an American weightlifter and professional strongman athlete who was placed first in 2008 America's Strongest Man. [2]
QwaQwa was a bantustan ("homeland") in the central eastern part of South Africa. It encompassed a very small region of 655 square kilometres (253 sq mi) in the east of the former South African province of Orange Free State, bordering Lesotho. Its capital was Phuthaditjhaba. It was the designated homeland of more than 180,000 Sesotho-speaking Basotho people.
Phuthaditjhaba is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. Phuthaditjhaba is a seSotho name that means meeting place of the tribes. It is located on the banks of the Elands River. It also located in a section of Drakensberg mountains . it is bordered by the province of KwaZulu-Natal to the south east and the independent country of Lesotho to the south west. Phuthaditjhaba was capital of the bantustan or homeland of QwaQwa. When apartheid ended, Phuthaditjhaba became part of the Free State province.
Tsiame Kenneth Mopeli was the former Chief Minister of the South African bantustan of QwaQwa.
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.
Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski, also known as "Pudzian" and "Dominator", is a Polish entrepreneur, former strongman competitor and current mixed martial artist. With a record 70% international winning percentage in his strongman career he is considered by many to be the greatest strength athlete of all time. During his career as a strongman, Pudzianowski won five World's Strongest Man titles, the most in history. He also won two runner-up titles in 2006 and 2009. In 2009, Pudzianowski debuted as a mixed martial artist. He is currently ranked #3 in the KSW Heavyweight rankings.
Žydrūnas Savickas is a Lithuanian powerlifter and professional strongman. Due to his multiple championship wins in all major international strongman competitions, as well as his longevity in the sport, he is widely considered by many to be the greatest strength athlete of all time.
Free State Stars Football club is a South African professional football club based in Bethlehem, Free State that plays in the National First Division. Formerly known as Makwane Computer Stars and Qwa Qwa Stars, their most significant honour is winning the 1994 Coca-Cola Cup and 2018 Nedbank Cup.
Golden Gate Highlands National Park is located in Free State, South Africa, near the Lesotho border. It covers an area of 340 km2 (130 sq mi). The park's most notable features are its golden, ochre, and orange-hued, deeply eroded sandstone cliffs and outcrops, especially the Brandwag rock. Another feature of the area is the numerous caves and shelters displaying San rock paintings. Wildlife featured at the park includes mongooses, eland, zebras, and over 100 bird species. It is the Free State's only national park, and is more famous for the beauty of its landscape than for its wildlife. Numerous paleontology finds have been made in the park, including dinosaur eggs and skeletons.
Derek Poundstone is an American former professional strongman athlete from Woodbridge, Connecticut who placed runner-up at the 2008 World's Strongest Man. Derek Poundstone is also a police Sergeant for the Naugatuck, Connecticut Police Department and is the former owner and landlord of an apartment complex and gym.
Nick Best is an American professional strongman competitor and world champion powerlifter.
Mark Felix is a Grenadian-English strongman competitor and regular entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition. He has competed at a record 17 World's Strongest Man contests, and has won numerous international grip contests, including the Rolling Thunder World Championships in 2008 and 2009, as well as the Vice Grip Viking Challenge in 2011 and 2012. Having competed in over 100 international competitions throughout 19 years, Felix is the 3rd most prolific strongman contestant in history.
The Arnold Strongman Classic is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world. Created by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer, it is an offshoot of the Arnold Sports Festival which takes place annually in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
The Strongman Champions League is a strongman competition circuit, with several Grand Prix events throughout the year and the Strongman Champions League overall champion title going to the overall winner at the end of the season. The competitors include some of the top athletes in the sport, including Žydrūnas Savickas, Krzysztof Radzikowski, Travis Ortmayer, Nick Best, Mikhail Koklyaev, Ervin Katona, Andrus Murumets, Laurence Shahlaei, Vytautas Lalas and Terry Hollands. Initially in close partnership with IFSA, it quickly asserted its independence and has acted as a unifying force in the world of strength athletics, bringing together athletes from IFSA with those affiliated to the World's Strongest Man circuit, and having close cooperation with other major events such as Fortissimus. In 2012, SCL began co-promoting the new Arnold Strongman Classic-Europe contest which will become part of the annual SCL season of events.
Brian Shaw is an American professional strongman competitor and winner of the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2016 World's Strongest Man competitions. In 2011, he became the first man to win the Arnold Strongman Classic and the World's Strongest Man contests in the same calendar year, a feat he replicated in 2015. With 26 international competition wins, he's the fourth most decorated strongman in history behind Žydrūnas Savickas, Mariusz Pudzianowski and Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, also known as Thor, is an Icelandic professional strongman. 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 in the same calendar year and holds numerous championship titles from multiple strength federations, including many world records. With 30 international competition wins, he is the third most decorated strongman in history behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas and Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski, and also due to his 'brute strength' and dominance across every single strongman event, analysts and strongman experts regard Hafþór as the strongest human to have ever lived.
Mike Jenkins was an American professional strongman competitor from Westminster, Maryland. Jenkins worked as a high school athletics director at Milton Hershey School in Hershey Pa, when not competing as a strongman. He was a college and professional football player before switching over to strongman competition in 2007. He won the Maryland's Strongest Man contest in 2007 which qualified him for the North American amateur national strongman championships later that year and he placed sixth in that contest. He placed second in the North American nationals in 2009.
Mike Burke is an American professional strongman competitor from Aurora, Colorado. Mike won the 2012 All-American Strongman Challenge in January 2012. This victory qualified him for the 2012 Arnold Strongman Classic and he finished in 5th place.
Edward Stephen Hall is a British former professional strongman and actor who has also fought as a boxer.
Robert Oberst is an American professional strongman competitor. He is a yearly competitor of the World's Strongest Man competition and a finalist in the 2013 and 2018 World's Strongest Man competitions ending up in 9th and 8th place respectively. He also came 8th in the 2014 Arnold Strongman Classic the heaviest and the toughest strongman competition in the world. Oberst has competed in 15 international competitions but have won none.
Aleksey Novikov is a Ukrainian professional strongman. He won the 2020 World's Strongest Man competition, becoming the second Ukrainian World's Strongest Man winner after Vasyl Virastyuk who won in 2004. In 2022, he won Europe’s Strongest Man, despite serving in the military for Ukraine.