Flex Australia – June-July 2017

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BORN: UKRAINE, 1974

HEIGHT: 190cm WEIGHT: 145kg

5

Virastyuk is the first person ever to be

declared the strongest man alive in both

the World’s Strongest Man and IFSA World

Championship competitions, winning in

2004 and 2007, respectively. In fact, he

edged out the man who tops this list when

he achieved victory at the IFSA contest.

Additionally, the Ukrainian strongman took

second place at the Arnold Strongman

Classic on three occasions (2005-07).

Now 40, Virastyuk has been retired

from competition for some time, but his

accomplishments and his legacy live on.

STRONGMAN

VASYL

VIRASTYUK

4

W E IG H T L I F T E R ,

POWERLIFTER, SHOWMAN

PAUL

ANDERSON

LIVED: USA, 1932–1994

HEIGHT: 175cm WEIGHT: 159kg

Paul Anderson’s name may be the
most controversial one on this list.
Proclaimed by some to be far and
away the strongest man who ever
lived, he also has his share of skeptics.
Whether he really squatted 1200
pounds (544kg) is open to debate, but
Dr Todd personally witnessed him
squat 700 (318kg) for eight reps in an
exhibition — at a time when the official
world record 1RM for the squat was
about 700 pounds. Anderson won
an Olympic Gold medal for the US
MAT SZWAJKOS; BETTMANN/CORBISin weightlifting in Melbourne in 1956.