Who gets your vote for the greatest all-around strength athlete ever? My vote goes to Aston, Saxon, or Jack Walsh. They were all at or under 200 lbs and have held all-time records regardless of their weight. Jack Walsh once backlifted an elephant at a bodyweight of 190, beating Cyr’s record, Aston was the greatest one-arm lifter ever, and Saxon had the greatest 2 hands anyhow in history.
Kaz get my vote for the “modern” era with Paul Anderson a close second.
Kaz, and Magnus Ver Magnesson, there are seven wins between them. Paul Anderson was a freak and Cyr would be able to compete with anyone today, he was a incredible.
George
Samson.
ATLAS
Well, if we’re including mythical figures, might as well throw Hercules in the mix.
It’s hard to make judgements about guys who died before most of us were born, but a lot of the hardcore modern showman-type (as opposed to organized-competition-type, like Mariusz, Kaz, etc.) strongmen seem to worship a guy named Joe Greenstein, aka “The Mighty Atom,” who was only about 5’4" and less than 150 pounds but used to hammer metal spikes through metal plates with his bare hands and bite through nails and burst chains by expanding his chest. He apparently also used to perform various feats with his hair :).
Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that this guy is superior to modern powerlifters or strongman competitors or that my goal is to get down to 150 pounds so that I can be more “functional.” I just think it can get boring to keep comparing the modern guys since many of their lifts are standardized and documented and since I don’t think we’ll ever come to a consensus about whether Dominic Filiou should be considered “stronger” than Mariusz or about whether it’s more impressive to total 2600+ pounds at a PL meet or to win the World’s Strongest Man.
(By the way, just for the record, the greatest living strongman is Pat Robertson, who can leg press more than Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee COMBINED.)
Jon Pall. Didn’t he used to yell something like “I am a Viking not an Eskimo”
[quote]shogunassassin wrote:
Well, if we’re including mythical figures, might as well throw Hercules in the mix.[/quote]
Mmmm…manass.
As for John Pall, I’ll admit the guy is super strong, but he was a complete douchebag. Think Tim Pheonix but bigger and with television cameras.
[quote]cap’nsalty wrote:
shogunassassin wrote:
Well, if we’re including mythical figures, might as well throw Hercules in the mix.
Mmmm…manass.
As for John Pall, I’ll admit the guy is super strong, but he was a complete douchebag. Think Tim Pheonix but bigger and with television cameras.[/quote]
OK I just thought it was funny he would yell things like that! Don’t really know a whole lot about him.
Speaking of strongmen who yells things…
WHO’S THE DADDY!!
I’d go with Kaz.
Back in his prime he was incredible, and built like an ox.
[quote]cap’nsalty wrote:
shogunassassin wrote:
Well, if we’re including mythical figures, might as well throw Hercules in the mix.
Mmmm…manass.
As for John Pall, I’ll admit the guy is super strong, but he was a complete douchebag. Think Tim Pheonix but bigger and with television cameras.[/quote]
jon pall died in 1993.
What exactly did he do that you class him as a douchebag?
[quote]cap’nsalty wrote:
shogunassassin wrote:
Well, if we’re including mythical figures, might as well throw Hercules in the mix.
Mmmm…manass.
As for John Pall, I’ll admit the guy is super strong, but he was a complete douchebag. Think Tim Pheonix but bigger and with television cameras.[/quote]
Douchebag, like the guy in your avatar…
[quote]AK47 wrote:
Jon Pall. Didn’t he used to yell something like “I am a Viking not an Eskimo”[/quote]
I just saw that on ESPN, I think it was Cheap Seats showing a WSM rerun.
He missed his lift right after he said that.
KAZ! no wait… yeah, definitly KAZ!
[quote]Viking69 wrote:
cap’nsalty wrote:
shogunassassin wrote:
Well, if we’re including mythical figures, might as well throw Hercules in the mix.
Mmmm…manass.
As for John Pall, I’ll admit the guy is super strong, but he was a complete douchebag. Think Tim Pheonix but bigger and with television cameras.
Douchebag, like the guy in your avatar…
[/quote]
HOLY SHIT! YOU TOTALLY BURNED ME!
But to answer mick’s question, you’d really have to see him on film. He was like a really big six year old.
[quote]shogunassassin wrote:
Well, if we’re including mythical figures, might as well throw Hercules in the mix.[/quote]
Hercules was probably a real person. He was known throughout the ancient world for his travels including in India. I’d imagine he was some very strong fellow and powerful and travelled a lot. Obviously a lot of his exploits were myth but it would be great to unearth the truth about him. Some people have genetic deformities such as double thickness tendons etc… so it would be interesting to speculate whether Herc was some freak of nature who made a legendary name for himself.
[quote]cap’nsalty wrote:
Viking69 wrote:
cap’nsalty wrote:
shogunassassin wrote:
Well, if we’re including mythical figures, might as well throw Hercules in the mix.
Mmmm…manass.
As for John Pall, I’ll admit the guy is super strong, but he was a complete douchebag. Think Tim Pheonix but bigger and with television cameras.
Douchebag, like the guy in your avatar…
HOLY SHIT! YOU TOTALLY BURNED ME!
But to answer mick’s question, you’d really have to see him on film. He was like a really big six year old. [/quote]
I grew up watching WSM with Geoff capes, Kaz and JPS. He WAS a showman, the origional viking power, and a great ambassador for the sport.
If this is how a really big 6 year old acts then fair enough.
The only thing i could criticise him for is taking the crown off OD wilson, as i feel OD was robbed.
He was no douchebag. In fact thats one word we should have a ban on. Seriously, who the fuck uses douchebag in their general vocab?
Personally I find it very hard to decide on one man for this title. Men like Sandow could perform feats of strength that I don’t think have been seen since. Paul Anderson was incredibly strong and was the first to squat 1000lbs and is credited with the strongest back lift in history at over 6000 lbs. How about a guy like Steve Goggins, OD Wilson, or Ed Coan? Moreover how about an OLY lifter like Alexeyev?
There are many ways that we could attempt to decide, but I don’t think that there could ever be a concensus among us.