Just seen on Terry Holllands FB, that Mikes died. Only 31 too! Such a beast. Can’t believe it…
http://www.local21news.com/sports/features/local-sports/stories/strongman-jenkins-31-dies-659.shtml
Was going to make this thread if it weren’t here already; thanks Recluse.
That’s a huge loss for strongman. He was one of my favorites. I remember meeting him at the last Arnold. Super nice and really funny, and probably the most approachable person in the whole place. He spent the entire time just hanging out with fans goofing around.
If he’d been given a few more years in the sport I have no doubt he would have won World’s at least once. I’ll never forget his victory at the Arnold where he beat Zydrunas and Shaw. Such a shame to lose him that young.
Hahaha, sorry man!
Yes, definitely such high potential for a win in worlds, can’t believe it…Must be devastating for his family.
Rest in Peace Mike.
I met Mike in May of 2012. I picked his brain. He taught me how to clean a log and axle. I felt like I was five years old standing next to him. It was very saddening to read of this.
Not to be a dick, but do you think his steroid use had an effect on his death?
[quote]mattypyuu wrote:
Not to be a dick, but do you think his steroid use had an effect on his death?[/quote]
It’s a fair question to ask; could be totally unrelated though, we’ll have to wait and see. This is purely speculation, but he didn’t seem like one of the guys taking insane levels of gear. Who knows though, even mild to moderate use can sometimes compound with a genetic condition.
That’s exactly what happened to Sigmarsson; he actually had a hereditary heart condition. Like I said though given that he passed in his sleep, it could very well be something totally unrelated to steroid use.
Agreed does anyone know as to why autopsy’s take so long is it just the lab tests that take a while to come back? Seemed nice from what I hear it’s a shame he’s gone.
I’m sorry to hear of his death. It’s so tragic when life is lost so young. Another big strong guy died today too - UFC heavyweight Shane Del Rosario (aged 30).
I think people focus on steroids when big guys die, and I’m sure they often play a part, but I wouldn’t be surprised if just the sheer size of these guys plays a bigger role. Regardless of whether it’s muscle or fat, 400lbs is an insane size of human for a heart to perfuse.
Obviously I have no idea in this instance, I’m just speculating.
Mike’s gym is like 4 hours south of where I live, I was looking forward to going to one of his seminars in the future. This is such a shame, he seemed like a great guy and had lots of potential to win WSM. RIP Best wishes to his friends and family.
Geez, I was just re-watching the 2012 WSM competition last night and was impressed with him going head to head against Zydrunas in the log press and then remembered that he used to post here back in the day. Definite loss to the sport.
Between him and Jon Pall (my all-time favourite), the good always seem to die young. It’s such a shame that he never quite got to realize his potential (which, as well all know, was a hell of a lot!) first.
Mike was a good friend of mine for years before he moved to Pa. We worked together for a while and he was in my wedding. We continued a strong friendship afterwards until we recently lost touch for whatever reason… I can still remember watching him absolutely destroy the competition at the Md strongest man his first event, we were all laughing at how easy it seemed for him even though he admits he had no idea what to expect with half the events. Great guy, great athlete and most of all my good friend… miss you Mike…
Mike seemed like a really good guy. I’m sad to hear of his passing. Sending thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.
RIP Mike. So sad to see him go. Keep his wife and family in your thoughts and prayers. The autopsy is being conducted today to find out the cause of death.
[quote]bigauxt26 wrote:
Mike was a good friend of mine for years before he moved to Pa. We worked together for a while and he was in my wedding. We continued a strong friendship afterwards until we recently lost touch for whatever reason… I can still remember watching him absolutely destroy the competition at the Md strongest man his first event, we were all laughing at how easy it seemed for him even though he admits he had no idea what to expect with half the events. Great guy, great athlete and most of all my good friend… miss you Mike…
[/quote]
Sorry to hear you lost a friend.
A couple of my family members went to high school with Mike and all of them say he was a great guy.
[quote]Jlabs wrote:
Agreed does anyone know as to why autopsy’s take so long is it just the lab tests that take a while to come back? Seemed nice from what I hear it’s a shame he’s gone.[/quote]
My gf is going into this field (worked at the medical examiners office recently) and said it takes a while for toxicology to come back as well as setting up samples for histology. You have to first perform an autopsy, create perfect samples for histology, then the samples sit there until the doc gets a chance to look at them. Apparently histology slides tend to pile-up. I think that they usually wait for all the results to come back before they start releasing info.
RIP Mike
He was a great friend of mine and an amazing training partner. He is very sadly missed.
[quote]GrizzlyBerg wrote:
[quote]Jlabs wrote:
Agreed does anyone know as to why autopsy’s take so long is it just the lab tests that take a while to come back? Seemed nice from what I hear it’s a shame he’s gone.[/quote]
My gf is going into this field (worked at the medical examiners office recently) and said it takes a while for toxicology to come back as well as setting up samples for histology. You have to first perform an autopsy, create perfect samples for histology, then the samples sit there until the doc gets a chance to look at them. Apparently histology slides tend to pile-up. I think that they usually wait for all the results to come back before they start releasing info.
RIP Mike[/quote]
Thanks for that, I hope his family is okay, sad to see good people leaving us to soon