BEST OF WSM: MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS 
Chris 10.8.98

I've decided to put together what I consider some of the most memorable moments in the history of the World's Strongest Man Competitions. These are moments that spring to mind most often for whatever reason - victory, defeat or something that was just so awesome you have to share it with your fellow strongman buddy from time to time. No further explanation is needed. 

1 - Magnus Samuelsson breaking Nathan Jones' arm in a 1995 heat - AWESOME!!! 

2 - Marko Varalahti wiping out all competition in the farmer's walk, 1995. He made the likes of MVM, Badenhorst and Taylor look like wimps if even for just a short-lived moment. If you've not seen it then you must get a copy of it or wait for a rerun on TV - it's worth it. And I promise you'll get a good laugh too. 

3-198? When Bill Kazmaier quieted those who said he wasn't pulling his shoulders back in the deadlift. He not only rolled his shoulders back he repeated this deadlift 2 or 3 times so as to leave no questions about his ability to make the lift. 

4 - 1995 when Gary Taylor was unable to load the sack in the medley for the last event in the 1995 final. To come so far and lose it in that way was just awful, talk about a tough break.  

5 - 1994, when Riku Kiri gave Gerrit Badenhorst a shove in the clash of the titans event. I thought for sure that there would be a huge ol' brawl especially when you consider 'the male ego' hahaha. 

6 - 1990, last event came down to Jon Pall Sigmarsson versus O.D. Wilson for the title. Well Jon Pall literally just ran away with this event and the title. It was a tremendous loss for O.D. and the United States who hadn't come close to winning since Kaz dominated in the early 80's. And he lost by only a half point, not even a whole point - man that would be hard to live with. Still I have to say that O.D. did really great throughout this whole competition considering his size but Jon Pall's overall flexibility and speed won out. 

7 - 1994, final event the atlas stones. It came down to this last event as it so often does and fastest time would win. Magnus and Manfred were tied in points at 42.5 and Riku with 42 so it would be close. But Magnus, as expected, was just too quick to stop. It was his 2nd victory for the WSM title and I think that it was definitely his toughest win because the caliber of competition was so high. Funny thing is that Magnus didn't even win this event it was Anton Boucher who won the event and Magnus came second but soundly beat out Manfred by .86 seconds! Riku was well beaten here. 

8 - 1993, again the final event being the atlas stones, and really in my opinion it was only between Gary Taylor and Magnus Ver Magnusson. Hoeberl and Kiri were in reality going for third because anyone who follows these competitions knows that Gary and Mags are the fastest in the stones. And although Manfred and Riku are very good they aren't lightning quick in this particular event to be able to match the speed of Gary and Magnus.  

9 - 1993 was a good year. The clash of the champions event had the match-up of Riku Kiri against Manfred Hoeberl. Now who could have been more evenly matched than these two. This had the making of a colossal battle of two modern gladiators BUT I was so surprised to see Riku just do away with Manfred in such a quick fashion that I was like that's it? I wanted more. 

10 - In his 1996 heat Forbes Cowan breezing through the wheelbarrel event was awesome!  

11 - 1977, Bruce Wilhelm versus Bob Young in the tug-of-war was just great. Bruce - gotta love him.  

12 - 1992, when Magnus dropped the husafel stone and thereby losing what would have been his second straight title. Instead, Ted Van Der Parre was easily able to clinch the victory following Magnus' monumental mistake. Oops! He let that one get away. 

I will be adding more memorable moments soon because obviously there are many more especially from way back when but these are just off the top of my head.

 
From: Brad Raczka <braczka@cahners.com>

Hey, in your memorable moments you have to include at least one of the following:

Jon Pall getting cocky and pointing to each of the competitors and saying "I will beat You and You and You and all of you"

One of the mainstays (Jon Pall?) saying "It is betta to have a good finish and a bad start than a bad finish and a good start."  No really?

Brent Musburger hosting one of the WSM competitions where they had a radial tire toss, much like the discus, especially the one white dude with the massive white afro and big brown sunglasses.

Any event where Cleave Dean participated, who was just some big fat guy whose claim to fame was carrying pigs on his farm.