Bill Kazmaier - Strongman Career

Strongman Career

Besides being a successful world champion powerlifter, Kazmaier's greatest fame came from his victories in the World's Strongest Man contests. He competed in six of them. In 1979 World's Strongest Man, he came in third after leading the most part of the competition and beating powerlifting icon Don Reinhoudt in the car lift by deadlifting a 2555 lbs car. In the following years, he dominated the competitions in 1980, 1981, and 1982 - winning all by an exceptional large margin. He was the first man to win the WSM title three times and remains one of only two men ever to win it three times in a row.

For his 1980 title win, out of 10 events Kazmaier took five event wins along the way, and tied for first in another. Won events include the log lift, the engine race, the steel bar bend, the girl squat lift, the silver dollar deadlift and the final tug of war. In the end the man in second place, Lars Hedlund, was over 28 points behind.

During Kazmaiers' title defense at the 1981 World's Strongest Man he won the squat event with 969 lbs (440 kg) (on a smith machine) for a world record, just after tearing his pectoralis major muscle while bending cold rolled steel bars in the bar bend event before. After this tear, he lost more than one-hundred pounds off his bench. This makes his 1983 IPF world championship win all that much more significant. Following his win in the squat he went on to win the silver dollar deadlift with a 940 lbs (426.4 kg) lift, which he not only locked out once, but twice just to illustrate his supremacy over the competition despite the just sustained injury. Overall out of 11 events he took five event wins, two second places, one third and a fourth. His event wins included the log lift, deadlift, squat, loading race and engine race.

In the 1982 World's Strongest Man competition Kazmaier won the first three events. Consequently, he took the lead and remained out in front for the duration of the contest. In an interview during this competition he stated: ‘I actually think that I am the strongest man who ever lived.’ A notable performance in this WSM was his 1055 lbs silver dollar deadlift.

Despite being the reigning champion, the organizers decided not to invite Kazmaier again to compete in the following 4 WSM competitions - He was simply too dominant. His absence cleared the way for Kazmaier's main rival Geoff Capes to win the title in 1983. Kazmaier continued to compete in lesser known strongman tournaments, such as the Scottish Power Challenge and the Le Defi Mark Ten International.

He returned to the World's Strongest Man Contest in 1988, where won 3 out of 8 events - the log press, the deadlift and the sack race - and took two second places including the truck pull. But he was disqualified for moving his hands in the sausage forward hold, so the time was stopped prematurely. When there were 2 events to go, he was still leading the field and was the favorite to win the following "weight over the bar event", in which a 56 lbs weight has to be thrown over a bar. He was holding the World Record in this event from the Highland Games 1984 with a height of 18feet and 3inches. The event took place on water for the first time and Bill's concern about getting problems with his orientation on the water proved correct. Although he threw the weight at least 3feet higher than the bar, he failed to get the direction right. So he dropped out at only 15feet and 1 inch. With Kazmaier's closest rival Jón Páll Sigmarsson winning the event with a throw over 15feet and 7inches, Bill came in overall second to Jón Páll. Kazmaier had defeated Sigmarsson in 1987 at the Le Defi Mark Ten event in Canada, and also prior to WSM in 1988, at the World Musclepower Classic.

In Kazmaiers' final WSM appearance at the 1989 World's Strongest Man, he severely injured his ankle in the first event and already had a ripped biceps. He came in fourth, directly behind Jón Páll Sigmarsson. Kazmaier was the first man to press the "unliftable" Thomas Inch dumbbell* and in fact he was only the fifth person to even lift it above the knee, setting this record on October 13, 1990.

Apart from the WSM contests, Kazmaier also competed in various other strongman competitions successfully such as the Strongbow Strongman Challenge, the Scottish Power Challenge, Le Defi Mark Ten Challenge, the World Muscle Power Championships and the Pure Strength contest. He ended his career as a competitive strongman in 1990.

With 3 times Worlds Strongest Man titles won, Kazmaier is one of the four most successful competitors in the history of the contest besides Mariusz Pudzianowski, Magnús Ver Magnússon and Jón Páll Sigmarsson.

With his achievements in strength athletics as well as powerlifting, Kazmaier is seen by many to be one of the strongest men ever. Strength author David Webster called him "the greatest American strength athlete of all time", and a 2008 poll of experts rated him as top superheavyweight lifter of all time and "one of the strongest men who ever lived." He was featured in an article called "Strength in numbers", published by Flex magazine on May 2008, in which a supposed top ten of the strongest men in history was pronounced. Kazmaier was voted "the third strongest man that ever lived", just behind Mark Henry and Žydrūnas Savickas.

* note: The first man in history to one hand clean and press the Inch dumbbell is Mark Henry, doing so in 2002.