Wout Zijlstra

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Wout Zijlstra
Wout zijlstra en baby-1496696612 (cropped).jpg
Personal information
Born (1964-08-04) 4 August 1964 (age 60)
Wolsum, Friesland, The Netherlands
Occupation Strongman Highland Games
Height1.97 m (6 ft 5+12 in) [1]
Medal record
Strongman
Representing Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
World's Strongest Man
3rd1998
8th2001
Strongest man of the Netherlands
2nd1991
3rd1994
2nd1996
2nd1997
1st2001
World's Strongest Team
1st1998 wBerend Veneberg
4th1999 w/Berend Veneberg
3rd2001 w/Jarno Hams
3rd2000 w/Berend Veneberg
2nd2002 w/Berend Veneberg
Highland Games
Representing Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
NK Highland Games
1st2003
1st2004

Wout Zijlstra (born 4 August 1964, in Wolsum) is a former strongman and Highland Games athlete from the Netherlands. He competed in the World's Strongest Man competition on two occasions, winning the 3rd place in 1998 behind Sweden's Magnus Samuelsson and Finland's Jouko Ahola.

Contents

Biography

Zijlstra was born in Wolsum, Friesland. He managed his first podium finish at the Strongest man of the Netherlands in 1991 where he finished second after Ted van der Parre. It took him until 1994 to reach the podium again. This time he finished third after Ted van der Parre and Berend Veneberg. After this he finished several more times on the podium but it would take him until 2001 to finally win the tournament. [2] After this victory he would not compete again and started focusing on Highland Games. He was invited twice to compete in the World's Strongest Man on both occasions he reached the final. In 1998 he competed together with his rival from the Netherlands Berend Veneberg and would finish third in the final. [2] In 2001 he finished eight in the World's Strongest Man competition. [2] Zijlstra competed together with Berend Veneberg on several occasions in the World's Strongest Team competition and won the tournament in 1998. After this they reached the podium several more times but did not win again.

During 1998 World's Strongest Team, Zijlstra equaled Manfred Hoeberl's Highland games one arm weight over bar world record for the 25.5 kg (56 lb) with a 5.60 metres (18 ft 4 in) throw. In 1999, Iceland's Sæmundur Sæmundsson broke Hoeberl and Zijlstra's joint record with 5.62 metres (18 ft 5 in), but during 2000 World Grand Prix world series Zijlstra reclaimed the record outright with 5.65 metres (18 ft 6 in) and took it to 5.70 metres (18 ft 8 in) during 2002 Den Helder Highland Games. [3] He also finished the Elfstedentocht twice [1] and won NK Highland Games in 2003 and 2004.

Zijlstra works as a meat inspector and does security jobs. [1] He is married and has 3 children. [1]

Personal records

Honours

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "woutzijlstra.nl" . Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "realdutchpowe.nl" . Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  3. "billhenderson.org" . Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  4. "STRENGTH RECORD, Section 10 - Arm carries". www.strengthrecord.com. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
Preceded by Strongest man of the Netherlands
2001
Succeeded by