If I were to
choose one man who could out muscle and outdo Arnold Schwarzenegger in terms of
strength and charisma it was Jon Pall sigmarsson. He had it all, the good looks
and the colossal strength; he was 4 times world strongest man, 2 times European
strongest man. Jon Pall died at a very young age, merely 32 years old at the
time of death. But his achievement in his short lived life is truly remarkable
and was a true gentleman. He was not only into power lifting but also competed
and won Icelandic bodybuilding title
in 90+ kg weight class.
Jon pall
first participated in world strongest man in 1983 and made his presence felt by
taking second place next to the title winner Geoff capes. Then The 24 year old
Jon pall was all set to take the world strongest man title from capes in 1984
and so he did. The rivalry between the two to take the crown gave us some of
the best events in world strongest man History. In 1985 Jon pall lost the title
to capes but again won it back from him in 1986. Some of the best one liner
came from Jon pall during these years of competing for title with capes, like
once when the audience called him Eskimo, he shouted back at them declaring “I
am not an Eskimo, I am a Viking” and dead lifted a cart weighing 495 kg. When he
defeated capes in 1984 he shouted “The King has lost his crown”.
1987 was the
year the world strongest man event was at its peak as Jon pall’s biggest rival
the great Bill Kazmaier entered the event. He was a 3 times world strongest man
and had held numerous world records in bench press and dead lift and squat. He had
the reputation as the “strongest man ever lived on earth” and had won world
strongest man title from 1980, 81 and 1982 making it 3 times in a row. They had
great rivalry and thus fueled their competitive spirit to outdo one another. When
it came to static events Kazmaier was better than Jon pall but Jon Pall
dominated Kazmaier in dynamic events and Jon pall was the better of the two as an
overall athlete. After winning the 1988 world strongest man title from the
great Kazmaier he declared “I may be the fastest strongman in the world, but I think
Kazmaier is the strongest on his feet”. They eventually became good friends.
Jon pall’s
records and milestones are as follows:
Squat – 365 kg Raw.
Bench Press
– 235 kg.
Dead lift -
400 kg Raw.
He entered Guinness
book of world record for lifting world’s largest whiskey Bottle.
He was the First
man to load the 150 kg Mcglashen stone.
Some of the
best quotes of Jon Pall were “I am in seventh Heaven”, “No problem for Jon Paul”.
He was very charismatic on and off the field. He had great genetics which
helped him to master all forms of weight lifting, power lifting and also become
a bodybuilder competing at 105 to 110 kg where as his body weight for world
strongest man events was 130 kg. He will always be remembered as the true Viking
warrior!
