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.
Jón Páll Sigmarsson was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Strongest Man four times. He is regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of all time, and is credited with developing Iceland's national identity. He was named Icelandic Sportsperson of the Year in 1981, and was one of the best-known Icelandic athletes. In 2012, Jón Páll was inducted into the World's Strongest Man Hall of Fame.
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.
Strength athletics, also known as Strongman competitions, is a sport which tests competitors' strength in a variety of non-traditional ways. Some of the disciplines are similar to those in powerlifting and some powerlifters have also successfully competed in strongman competitions. However, strongman events also test physical endurance to a degree not found in powerlifting or other strength-based sports, such as carrying refrigerators, flipping truck tires, and pulling vehicles with a rope.
Eugen Sandow was a Prussian bodybuilder and showman. Born in Königsberg, Sandow became interested in bodybuilding at the age of ten during a visit to Italy. After a spell in the circus, Sandow studied under strongman Ludwig Durlacher in the late 1880s. On Durlacher's recommendation, he began entering strongman competitions, performing in matches against leading figures in the sport such as Charles Sampson, Frank Bienkowski, and Henry McCann. In 1901 he organised what is believed to be the world's first major body building competition. Set in London's Royal Albert Hall, Sandow judged the event alongside author Arthur Conan Doyle and athlete/sculptor Charles Lawes-Wittewronge.
Dinosaur training is a philosophy of weight training / physical culture promoting a return to traditional strongman types of exercises and training, including:
A strongwoman is a woman who performs feats of strength in a show or circus, or a woman who competes in strength athletics. Traditionally, strongwomen have had a special appeal, as women involved in demonstrated feats of strength were exceptions.
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.
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.
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.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson is an Icelandic boxer, actor and former professional strongman. He is the first person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, Europe's Strongest Man and World's Strongest Man in the same calendar year and holds numerous championship titles from multiple strength federations including many world records. He played Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane in the HBO series Game of Thrones for five seasons. He was also a former professional basketball player.
William Bankier billed as 'Apollo, the Scottish Hercules', was a strongman stage performer who in 1915 and 1919 was also 'King Rat' of the showbusiness charity the Grand Order of Water Rats.
Mateusz Kieliszkowski is a Polish strongman competitor. He is particularly known for his impressive pressing ability within strongman, as well as his prowess in the Atlas Stones and various moving events.
Tom Stoltman is a British strongman competitor from Invergordon, Scotland. On 20 June 2021, Tom won the 2021 World's Strongest Man competition, becoming the first man from Scotland to win the World's Strongest Man and the fifth British person to do so. He is the younger brother of the 2021 Europe's Strongest Man and five-time Scotland's Strongest Man Luke Stoltman. Tom finished 5th in the 2019 World's Strongest Man. At the 2020 World's Strongest Man competition in Bradenton, Florida, Stoltman went on to finish 2nd, winning three of the six events in the final.
Luke Stoltman is a Scottish strongman competitor from Invergordon, Scotland. He is a five-time winner of Scotland's Strongest Man, and in 2021 won Europe's Strongest Man. He is the older brother of the current World's Strongest Man, Tom Stoltman. Both the Stoltman brothers are athlete ambassadors for home gym supplier Mirafit.
World's Ultimate Strongman is an annual strength athletics competition which began on October 26, 2018. The event has a number of rival and parallel competitions, including the World's Strongest Man and the Giants Live Tour.
Konstantine Janashia is a pro-strongman from Georgia. In 2016, Janashia became the first Georgian to reach the World's Strongest Man final, where he placed fourth.
The 2020 World's Strongest Man was the 43rd edition of the World's Strongest Man competition. It took place in Bradenton, Florida between November 11 and 15. Oleksii Novikov of Ukraine won the competition for the first time in his career, with Tom Stoltman of Great Britain taking second and Jean-Francois Caron of Canada taking third. At 24 years old, Novikov is the youngest person to win the event since 1984.
The 2021 World's Strongest Man is the 44th edition of the World's Strongest Man competition, an event taking place in Sacramento, California from June 15 to June 20, 2021. The defending champion was Oleksii Novikov of Ukraine, however, he failed to progress to the final after coming fourth in his heat. In so doing, he became the first World's Strongest Man reigning champion to compete at the following year's event and fail to qualify for the final since Magnús Ver Magnússon in the 1997 competition. The contest was won by Tom Stoltman who improved on his second place finish the previous year. Four-time champion Brian Shaw came second, returning to the podium after a 2 year absence, and Canada's Maxime Boudreault came third.
