Nigerian athletes have progressively enjoyed success in powerlifting. The likes of Folashade Oluwafemiayo have cemented their name in history for their powerlifting conquests in the Commonwealth Games.
Indeed, powerlifting as a sport is gaining increasing attention in Nigeria. More interestingly, Nigerian punters always look to top bookmaker sites like www betking for free bets and promotions on powerlifting events.
Of course, history is rich with powerlifting icons we can never forget. This article discusses some of these all-time greats.
1. Ed Coan
Even if you’re not a powerlifting fan, you must’ve heard of Ed Coan. The man who lifted weights like feathers sent other powerlifters of his time into hiding. He holds over 70 official records and 30 unofficial records.
Ed Coan wasn’t the strongest or the biggest kid, and he once mentioned that he was a victim of bullying. He soon joined bodybuilding, and the rest was history. After gaining power, Ed Coan entered powerlifting and had a Hall of Fame career.
Among the powerlifting records he held was becoming the lightest man to exceed the 2,400 lb barrier in the powerlifting total. Unfortunately, Ed was caught up in doping issues and got a lifetime ban from the sport in 1996. However, no one disputes that he’s among the greatest powerlifters ever.
2. Zyndruna Savickas
Zyundrun Savickas’s opponents weren’t poor; they were only unlucky to compete with him. There’s only so much you can do against a man that has been winning powerlifting contests since he was nineteen.
He decided to participate in strength sports after getting inspired by watching one on TV in his home country, Lithuania.
It took him three years to qualify and win the same competition that inspired him. He’s unarguably the most powerful man from Lithuania and has won his country’s national strongest man contest 16 times.
If his local stats impress, you’ll be more wowed by his international achievements.
He’s won the World’s Strongest Man competition four times and finished second five times. Zyundrun has also won the Arnold Strongman Classic eight times, including six consecutive times from 2003-2010.
However, his best finish at the World Powerlifting Championship was second, which he achieved in 2002.
3. Mark Henry
If you’re a professional wrestling fan, Mark Henry needs no introduction. “The king of the Jungle” spent 25 years at WWE and is considered one of the franchise’s greatest superstars ever.
Aside from being a wrestler, Mark Henry is an award-winning powerlifter, strongman, and Olympic weightlifter.
His powerlifting career has been mainly successful, and he enjoyed this success from a very young age.
Henry’s mum bought him his first training equipment when he was ten, and by the time he was 18, Los Angeles Times declared him the world’s strongest teen.
His wrestling career didn’t let him focus exclusively on powerlifting, but he still had an impressive career.
He’s a one-time winner of the Arnold Strongman Classic, WDFPF World Powerlifting Championships, and the International Junior Powerlifting Championships. It’s hard to imagine how large his powerlifting trophy cabinet would look if he weren’t a wrestler.
4. Bill Kazmaier
Bill Kazmaier is another American who reached the top of the Powerlifting rank. The self-acclaimed “greatest man ever lived” broke many world records during his active years, but the younger generation has smashed them.
He’s won the IPG World Powerlifting Championship twice and the USPF National Powerlifting Championship and AAU National Powerlifting Championship once each.
He won three consecutive World’s Strongest Man championships (1980-82), explaining why he feels he’s the strongest man ever. With powerlifters like Zyndruna Savickas and strength athletes like Mariusz Pudianowski having graced the biggest stage, his best position is fourth on this list.
5. Paul Anderson
Last on this list is a man who contributed immensely to the growth of competitive powerlifting, Paul Anderson.
It all began in his father’s backyard, where he was lifting weights to enter his high school’s football team. He traveled to Russia during the Cold War and lifted 402.5 pounds weight, which was unheard of at the time.
Anderson would compete and win the US National Weightlifting and World Weightlifting Championships. He also won the gold medal in the Olympics in 1956 but was banned from the 1960 edition because the committee ruled him professional.
The 1985 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records acknowledges his 6,270 lbs lift as the heaviest lifted by a human being.
