Weightlifting

1980 would mark the fourth annual Worlds Strongest Man Competition. But this year’s event would not occur in California like the past three years. This year’s competition occurred in Vernon Valley/Great Gorge, New Jersey. Ten men would compete, with four men hailing from outside the U.S. Four of the ten men were returning from last … Read more

So far, we’ve covered the first and second Worlds Strongest Man Competitions. Today we’ll look at the third competition, which occurred in 1979, again at Universal Studios in California. As was the case in 1978, there were ten competitors, but only two were non-Americans. Defending champion Bruce Wilhelm retired, but there were four returning competitors. … Read more

In my last article, I wrote about the first World’s Strongest Man contest in 1977. Olympic weightlifter Bruce Wilhelm easily won the competition and returned in 1978 to defend his title. The total number of competitors increased from eight in 1977 to ten in 1978, but Wilhelm was the only one returning from the previous … Read more

Mostly everyone, whether a fan or not, has seen some footage of the World’s Strongest Man competition. It’s truly mind-boggling how powerful these competitors are. But many people don’t know that the first competition goes back to 1977, which bears little resemblance to today’s organized and well-planned event. The 1977 competition had only eight contestants, … Read more