jon pall sigmarsson

Jón Páll Sigmarsson (April 28, 1960 – January 16, 1993) was a strongman, a powerlifter  , a bodybuilder and a weightlifter  from Iceland  who won the World’s Strongest Man Competition four times (1984, 1986, 1988, 1990). In 1984 Sigmarsson won the Icelandic bodybuilding  title in the +90 kg. class. His achievements in powerlifting also include Icelandic records in the bench press and the squat, but his best performances were usually in the deadlift  event, in which he set the European record many times and multiple world records in strongman competition deadlift variations, such as the rectangular handled wheel and one handed deadlift.

A famous quote from him is “there is no point in being alive if you cannot do the deadlift”. In a tragic irony, he died at the age of 32 while performing this exercise in the gym. He knew he had serious heart problems in his family and was aware of this weakness.

Once in a Strongman competition, someone in the audience called him an eskimo, then he shouted back: “I am not an Eskimo, I am a Viking!” Two other famous quotes are, “I am in seventh heaven” which was his translation of an Icelandic saying, and “Ekkert mál fyrir Jón Pál” which roughly translates as “It is no haul for Jon Paul”.

Competition history

Strength athletics

* World’s Strongest Man
o 1983 – 2nd
o 1984 – 1st
o 1985 – 2nd
o 1986 – 1st
o 1988 – 1st
o 1989 – 3rd
o 1990 – 1st

* World Muscle Power Championship
o 1985 – 1st
o 1986 – 1st
o 1987 – 2nd
o 1988 – 3rd
o 1989 – 1st
o 1990 – 1st
o 1991 – 1st
o 1992 – 3rd

* Europe’s Strongest Man
o 1983 – 3rd
o 1985 – 1st
o 1986 – 1st
o 1987 – 3rd
o 1988 – 2nd
o 1989 – 3rd
o 1990 – 4th
o 1992 – 4th

* Other contests
o 1982 Scandinavian Strongest Man – 1st
o 1985 Le Defi Mark Ten (Canada) – 3rd
o 1986 Le Defi Mark Ten (Canada) – 2nd
o 1987 Le Defi Mark Ten (Canada) – 5th
o 1987 Ultimate Challenge Competition – 1st
o 1987 Japan Grand Prix – 2nd
o 1987 Pure Strength – 1st
o 1989 Corby Great Eccleston (England) – 1st
o 1989 Iceland’s Kraftur Contest – 1st
o 1989 Scottish Power Challenge – 1st
o 1990 Nissan Power Cup – 1st
o 1990 European Muscle Power Championship
o 1991 European Hercules – 2nd
o 1992 European Hercules – 6th
o Iceland’s Strongest Man winner – 1985, 1990, 1991, 1992
o Finland’s Strongest Man winner – 1989, 1992

Powerlifting

* 1980 European Powerlifting Championships – 2nd
* 1981 European Powerlifting Championships – 2nd
* 1981 World Powerlifting Championships – 3rd
* 1983 European Powerlifting Championships – 1st

Highland games

* 1986 Carmunnock Highland Games (Scotland) – 7th
* 1986 Commonwealth Highland Games (Scotland) – 1st

Death

Jon Pall Sigmarsson died on the 16th January 1993 of a heart attack. He was working out in his gym in Iceland when he suffered the heart attack, caused, it is thought, by a torn aorta which was related to a weakened heart, a problem that was known to exist in his family.

Geoffrey Lewis Capes

Early life

Capes was born and brought up in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, one of nine children, and went to the local secondary school, George Farmer. He became a member of Holbeach Athletic Club where he was coached by Stuart Storey. After school he worked as a coalman and an agricultural labourer, being able to load twenty tons of dauphinoise potatoes in twenty minutes. He joined Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1970, and remained in the police for ten years.

Competitive participation

Capes represented his country many times over 11 years, winning two Commonwealth Games and two Indoor European Championship titles, and put the shot 21.68 metres (71 ft. 3.5 in.) to gain the British and Commonwealth record. He is probably Britain’s best-known shot-putter. Geoff Capes is also the most capped British male athlete of all time, receiving 67 International caps, and returning 35 wins. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics he finished 5th in the final of the Shot put a result that left him numbed with disappointment. He also competed at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics at the latter, coming sixth having qualified for the final in the bronze position. Additionally he was a winner of 17 national titles and on top of his 67 GB vests wore 35 England vests. Capes ran 23.7sec for the 200m.

Capes turned professional in 1980 and went on to win five World Highland Games titles and other British and European contests. His positive image continued to grow with his outstanding performances in the World’s Strongest Man competition and other international strength athletics competitions. He was particularly known for his incredible hand and arm strength, easily tearing London telephone directories in half and bending rolled steel bars measuring over 1 inch in diameter and three feet in length.

World’s Strongest Man results

* 1980 – 3rd
* 1981 – 2nd
* 1982 – 4th
* 1983 – 1st
* 1984 – 3rd
* 1985 – 1st
* 1986 – 2nd

Life outside of sport

A persistent story about Capes is that in 1979, he stood in for friend and fellow strongman David Prowse to play the part of Darth Vader in several scenes during filming of The Empire Strikes Back  while Prowse recovered from an elbow injury. During an interview on BBC Radio Cleveland on 31 January 2007, Capes was asked about this and he stated that it never happened. Another story, told on Youtube by former wrestler Mark Rocco, is that John McEnroe picked him up and threw him to the ground after Capes challenged him to ‘wrestle’ on a training ground.

In 1985, the game Geoff Capes Strongman was released on the Amstrad CPC, the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64. The game featured truck pulling and tug-of-war, and allowed control of each muscle group.

Geoff is a former member of the Air Training Corps. He also appeared in the Tyne Tees Television programme Supergran in the episode “Supergran Grounded”.

After retiring from strength athletics in 1987, Capes continued his involvement; acting as a referee at strength competitions in the UK.

In 1998 he became a Justice of the Peace.

Geoff appeared on the fourth series of Shooting Stars, alongside Patsy Kensit, where he threw a bomb at Johnny Vegas.

In 2007 he became the face of Cadbury’s Wispa relaunch, appearing on bilboards and magazine advertisements, and is the patron saint of SELOC.

He now breeds budgerigars and has had much success (a former world champion) on the show bench with his Recessive Pieds. In 2008 he assumed the role of president of the Budgerigar Society, along with Mick Widdowson who is also a keen Budgie breeder and friend. He frequently appears in the pages of Cage & Aviary Birds.

Personal life

Capes currently lives in Chesterfield, Derbyshire and has a daughter Emma who was English Schools shot put  champion and Youth Olympics bronze medallist. His son Lewis played American football for the London Monarchs. He has four grandchildren. His Step-Niece currently attends Stanchester Community School and came 1st place two years running in the Shotput on Sports Day.

Bill Kazmaier

Strength Sports

In 1978, Kazmaier won the American powerlifting championship and the IPF world powerlifting championship. He won the IPF world championship again in 1983. In 1981, Kazmaier became the first person to bench press 300kg in competition. The 1981 event was the same competition in which he totaled 1,100 kg (2,425 lb). Best lifts= Squat-925lbs (done without a suit) 661Lbs bench press, and an 887Lbs. deadlift.

Kazmaier won the World’s Strongest Man title three times, in 1980, 1981, and 1982. After these victories, Kazmaier chose not to compete in the 1983 WSM due to it being held outside the USA, but after this was not invited back to compete in the WSM contest again until 1988, when he finished second to Jón Páll Sigmarsson. He finished fourth in his final WSM appearance in 1989.

Pro wrestling career

Kazmaier wrestled during the 1980s for promotions such as Stampede Wrestling and Continental Championship Wrestling. His biggest national exposure came when he debuted for World Championship Wrestling in 1991 at Halloween Havoc. He received several shots at Lex Luger’s WCW World Heavyweight Championship but failed to win the title. He also briefly teamed with Rick Steiner, only to lose to The Enforcers in a tournament final for the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

Life after competition

After his WCW days, Kazmaier opened a fitness club in Auburn, Alabama. The gym closed in 2005. After Kaz Fitness Center in Auburn, AL closed in 2005, Kazmaier opened, and continues to operate, S.W.A.T. gym in Opelika, Alabama. In recent years, he has appeared on ESPN as a commentator on World’s Strongest Man broadcasts.

Achievements

Professional Competitive Record – [1st (14),2nd (3) ,3rd (3) - Out of Total(21)]
Performance Metric – .967 [American - .970 International - .966]

COMPLETED CONTESTS

* United Kingdom Pure Strength 4 Team Challenge – winner (1990)
* United Kingdom World’s Strongest Man – 4th place (1989)
* Scotland Pure Strength 3 Team Challenge – 2nd place (1989)
* Scotland Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1989)
* Iceland World’s Strongest Man – 2nd place (1988)

World Strongman Challenge – 3rd place (1988)

* United Kingdom Pure Strength 2 Team Challenge – winner (1988)

World Muscle Power Championships – winner (1988)

* Scotland Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1988)
* Scotland Pure Strength – Ultimate Challenge – 2nd place (1987)
* Canada Le Defi Mark Ten Challenge – winner (1987)
* Scotland Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1987)
* Scotland Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1986)

World Muscle Power Championships – 3rd place (1985)

* Scotland Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1985)
* Scotland Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1984)
* United States World’s Strongest Man – winner (1982)
* United States World’s Strongest Man – winner (1981)
* United Kingdom Strongbow Strongman – winner (1980)
* United States World’s Strongest Man – winner (1980)
* United States World’s Strongest Man – 3rd place (1979)