Winning the debut world championships for strongmen under 105 kg, Janne Hartikaninen made history this weekend in Finland.

Here are the final standings and points:

1. Janne Hartikainen 84.5 points
2. Jyrki Rantanen 79
3. Aki Katajamaki 76.5
4. Darren Sadler 71
5. Danny Andersson 64.5
6. Sergei Koniushok 52
7. Maris Rozenthals 39.5
8. Willie Wessels 36
9. Wayne Arnburg, Stefan Weiermann (tie) 34
11. Lars Erik Nilsen 28
12. Rene Trage 22

The Bulgarian Weightlifting Federation now has two new top officers, and given the amazing lifters produced by this country, it is no surprise that once again they are former top competitors themselves.


Stefan Botev, lifting for Australia, races to get under this 255-kg clean at the 1996 Olympics (Atlanta, Georgia). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Andon Nikolov is the new president, and he is best known as the 1972 Olympic champion in the 90-kg category. Stefan Botev, a name well-known to lifting fans around the world, is the new general secretary.

Speaking about the new position today, Botev said, "I am very happy about this and it is very good for the future of Bulgarian weightlifting. . . We look forward to holding more competitions in Bulgaria and this will help the sport."

IronMind has just received official word that Mariusz Pudzianowski has been disqualified from the 2004 World's Strongest Man contest "for a breach of the new IFSA Strongman Health Policy."


Mariusz Pudzianowski at the 2004 World's Strongest Man contest (Paradise Island, Bahamas). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

The official statement ended speculation based on what had been unconfirmed but very substantial rumors circulating in the strongman world.

IFSA has, "applied the following disciplinary measures:

A) A disqualification of Mr. Pudzianowski's results in the World's Strongest Man 2004 including forfeiture of all prize money, ranking points, and associated recognition.
B) A one year suspension from competition."

The official statement also noted, "The athlete has agreed to enter into a rehabilitation program administered by IFSA Holding's medical team that starts 20th of November 2004," but goes on to explain that, "In recognition of his full and immediate co-operation with IFSA Holdings and its medical team, as well as in view of his previously clean record, the ban may be lifted earlier . . . ."

Paul Ohl, chairman of the Quebec Organizing Committee, said that after three days of negotiations with top IFSA Holdings officers, "I think we are just about done," and pointed to the prospect of officially signing a contract in Warsaw next month.


Paul Ohl, a leading strength historian, introduces the backlift at the 2004 World Muscle Power Championships (Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

With Paul Ohl and ExpoCite officials Mark Sparrow and Jacques Dupuis representing Quebec, and Dr. Douglas Edmunds, Jussi Laurimaa and Malcolm Crease representing IFSA Holdings, the talks concluded with "general agreement" on such key points as contest format, location, the event selection process and the range of compensation for the athletes.

A central point in Paul Ohl's vision of the strongman competition is to view it as an extreme sport with the athletic component taking priority over TV considerations, and this dictates significant changes from the approach taken in the World's Strongest Man competition, Ohl explained.

Emphasizing this point, Paul Ohl said that a condition stated by the Quebec Organizing Committee was that IFSA Holdings would be required to present a formal guarantee that the TWI World's Strongest Man contest would have to be recognized as a non-title event, and would be considered to be a TV show or an exhibition.

Olympic-style weightlifting fans who want more newsstand exposure for the sport should run out and buy a copy of the January issue of IRONMAN magazine because it has terrific coverage highlighting the lifting in Athens.


Taner Sagir (Turkey) produced an electrifying performance at the Athens Olympics, which included this 172.5-kg snatch. Not too shabby for a 77-kg teenager, huh? Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

IRONMAN publisher John Balik has long been a strong supporter of weightlifting, and what else could you expect from a guy who, as a teenager, walked into a Chicago YMCA and saw Clyde Emerich clean and jerk a world record. Talk about an introduction to the sport.

For more information on IRONMAN magazine, please check their website http://www.ironmanmagazine.com/ and if you're a weightlifting fan, buy this issue and then let IRONMAN know that you appreciate their support.

We have just received official word on the events for the forthcoming Swedish Grand Prix and strongman fans are in for some surprises.


World's Strongest Man winner Svend "Viking Power" Karlsen lays into the truck pull at the 2003 Vantaa Grand Prix (Vantaa, Finland. Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Six events have been selected:

1. Tire flip (500 kg)
2. Bench press (200 kg for reps)
3. Stones (five stones, ranging from 125 to 185 kg)
4. Farmer's walk (160 kg each hand)
5. Vertical lift (170 kg, lifted up about two meters, for reps)
6. Conan's wheel

Ulf Bengtsson, World Class president, said that his goal is to create strongman events in the best interest of all the stakeholders and he noted that the Swedish Grand Prix provides an exceptional opportunity for Scandinavian strongman fans to see the top competitors in the full splendor of a live contest.

Competing with the home court advantage, World's Strongest Man winner Magnus Samuelsson will be a huge draw in the star-studded field at the Swedish Super Series strongman event in Gothenberg on December 5.


Magnus "King of the Stones" Samuelsson at the 2004 World Muscle Power competition (Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Adding to the drama, Norwegian strongman fans will have a rare opportunity to see their man, World's Strongest Man winner Svend Karlsen, close to home, as he goes head to head with Magnus and other top competitors on the international strongman circuit.

The Swedish Grand Prix will be held in the Swedish Exhibition Center, and it is a qualifier for the strongman contest at next year's Arnold Expo.

With the goal of having a prize list exceeding $C150,000 the Quebec-based organizing committee is meeting with top officers from IFSA Holdings this week to discuss the proposed 2005 IFSA World's Strongest Man contest.

Professional strongman contests are growing rapidly and IFSA Holdings has developed a comprehensive competition program that will culminate in a world championships intended to become the premier event on the professional strongman circuit. Paul Ohl, chairman of the Quebec Organizing Committee, said that this meeting is the culmination of a two-year effort to develop and present a professional strongman contest of the highest order, one that will leave no doubt about the victor being worthy of the title.

Congratulations to Mark Viehweg, who was the first person to correctly tell us that it was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who said that as a young kid lifting weights he was inspired by and wanted to be "studly" like Tommy Kono.

Quite a few guys knew the answer to this question and what was interesting to us was that the number two guess was none other than the irrepressible, unmistakable Bruce Wilhelm. The Big B, besides making a MILO cover, was a world-class athlete in three Olympic sports, and he won the first two World's Strongest Man contests.

Way to go Mark, and we hope you enjoy the one-year MILO subscription you just won.

One of the really nice things that happens in an Olympic year is that sports and athletes otherwise laboring in relative obscurity are suddenly thrust into the limelight, and great heroes from the past are remembered and honored as they should be.


(Left to right) Tommy Kono, Issac Berger, Lou DeMarco and Chuck Vinci relax at the 2004 Arnold. Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Tommy Kono was recently honored by the publication AsianWeek with its prestigious Leadership Award in San Francisco.

"I never saw so many men in business suits as that night because in Hawaii hardly anyone ever wears any kind of suits," Tommy said. But that was just a dress rehearsal, because Tommy will be back in the December, in a tuxedo no less, to get the full treatment as part of this recognition for his achievements. In order to both attend this presentation and to honor his longstanding commitments to the Honolulu Marathon, Tommy has to take a red-eye flight from Honolulu to San Francisco, attend the banquet, and then return to Honolulu the next morning. Sounds like Tommy is training to be a MILO reporter.

It's true that Tommy won three Olympic medals (two golds and one silver), and that he set over two dozen world records in weightlifting (spanning four different body weight classes) and that besides being one of the world's most elite weightlifters, he also won international acclaim (and titles) for his physique, and along the way he even did some shows demonstrating traditional feats of strength. That's all great, but the first person to tell us the bold-face name who said he was inspired by Tommy Kono and wanted to be "studly" like him wins a complimentary one-year MILO subscription.

Email your answer to sales@ironmind.com. One answer per person, please.

Ken Brown burst on the strongman scene with a dramatic debut at the 1997 US Strongest Man competition.


Ken Brown on the Flintstone Deadlift at the 1997 US Strongest Man competition (Primm, Nevada). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Ken Brown had competed in strict curl contests, bench press contests, deadlift contests, and, as an impromptu thing, he didn't just close a No. 3 Captains of Crush gripper, but he did it with an audible click - all that is well and good, but we remember him as the guy who tried to dent the back of the flatbed with his chin in the loading event at that '97 contest, then picked himself up and finished it off.

Ken went on to compete at the World's Strongest Man contest, broke the world record in the silver dollar deadlift and just now, at 40, he benched 600 pounds without a bench shirt. Ken is one of the few guys around who passes the Jamie Reeves standard of strength: bench 600+ and deadlift 800+.

Ken said that his knees are holding up just fine, as he works back into squatting, so maybe we'll be lucky enough to see him return to competition in 2005.

Flatbeds and silver dollar deadlifts: Beware.

Promoted by Mika Hyvarinen and Simo Storkkila and organized by the Finnish Strongman Federation, the World's Strongest Man under 105-kg contest is drawing near.

Ten athletes are competing: Willie Wessels, Wayne Arnburg, Stefan Weierman, Danny Anderson, Maris Rozenthals, Rene Trage, Darren Saddler, Janne Hartikainen, Aki Katajam�ki, and Jyrki Rantanen.

Eight events are scheduled:

Log lift (for maximum weight)
Farmer's walk (120 kg, 40 meters)
Wheelbarrow (20 meters)
Hercules Hold
Conan's Circle
Truck Pull (harness and rope)
Atlas Stones (100kg, 120kg, 140kg, 160kg, 180kg)
Crucifix (12.5 kg)

This contest has generated a lot of excitement, and IFSA Holdings officer Ilkka Kinnunen has been instrumental in creating a basis for this event, recognizing that strongman is immensely popular, but not everyone is two meters tall and weighs 150 kg.

Top professional strongman Phil Pfister reported that his fellow West Virginian strength star, Brian Siders, was on a tear at the IPF World Championships this weekend, rewriting the record book in a most dramatic manner. The 26-year old, lifetime drug-free superheavyweight left nothing to chance, as he hit a 2534 total, according to Pfister, via a 969 squat, 744 bench press and 821 deadlift.

"Phil was close... Wrong on the squat...," said ace professional strongman Karl Gillingham. Reporting Brian Siders's huge lifts in kilos, Karl said, "437.5, 337.5, 372.5, and a total of 1147. Siders is the second coming off Ed Coan."

We have just posted the John Brookfield's latest Grip Tip, and all you grip guys will want to check it out.

John Brookfield is the author of the book The Mastery of Hand Strength, and he is one the world's leading experts in field, not to mention being a topflight performer of traditional feats of strength.

John's impact on the grip field has been enormous - he has been instrumental in both educating and inspiring countless people who are focused on crushing grippers, bending nails and pursuing other forms of lower-arm strength.

Enjoy John's latest Grip Tip, "The Sand Bag Swing and Catch," either by clicking on the Grip Tip button on the IronMind homepage (/) or by following this link:/GripTips/griptip.html.

Alan Black has re-launched his website featuring the DVD/tape "Strongman," which highlights Canadian strongman star Hugo Girard.


On his way to winning the 2004 World Muscle Power title, Hugo Girard overwhelms the Viking Press (Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

For details on "Strongman," please check Alan Black's website http://www.topoftheworldfilms.com/strongmanmovie/ and for Hugo Girard fans who want an inside view of how he trains, we have some more good news: Hugo said that he is working on a training video/DVD, scheduled for release this spring.

Advancing each year, weightlifting will be on the main stage at the Arnold Expo for the first time next year.


California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger with Columbus Weightlifting Club's Mark Cannella and Megan Tornstrom at the 2004 Arnold Expo. Governor Schwarzenegger and his partner in the Arnold Expo, Jim Lorimer, have been huge supporters of weightlifting at what is the world's largest fitness expo. Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Mark Cannella and Megan Tornstrom, of the Columbus Weightlifting Club, said that the tentative 2005 Arnold Expo schedule is for juniors and women to lift on Friday, and the open competition will on Saturday, along with a Family Feud of Weightlifting, which will give such weightlifting dynasties as the Curry family an opportunity to strut their stuff. Sunday, the traditional East Coast - West Coast battle will be held on the main stage in the Exposition Hall.

This is a great place to see a great sport, so mark your calendars for March 4 - 6, and for all the details on tickets and everything else, please check the official Arnold Expo website: http://www.arnoldexpo.com/.

Convening in Poland on December 13th, key representatives from the strongman world will discuss the sport's future and how to make the sort of advances that have been kicked around for years. Spearheaded by the freshly-formed IFSA Holdings, this summit will include a presentation of the blueprints created by this organization with the intention of bringing strongman to a higher level of development and global visibility.

It's on: We have just received official word that the 2005 FitExpo is set to have a top strongman competition.

Details will follow shortly, but mark your calendars right now for what is sure to be a big event next February. For details on the FitExpo, be sure to visit their official web site: www.thefitexpo.com.

With a minimum cash prize budget of US$150,000 as the target, and a working title of "The Strongest Man on Earth," discussions aimed at developing the world's premier strongman contest are proceeding.

As explained by one of the principal parties involved in these negotiations, the central idea behind this contest is to organize the world's premier strongman competition, one that puts the athletes first, rather than treating the competitors like extras on a movie set, and as a sports event, it would be held in a major stadium and the media would be welcome.

The working model calls for recognizing strongman as an extreme sport, with a progression of athletes from national-level competitions to continental championships to the world championships, and the aim is to use the May through August period for the preliminary contests, and then September would see the world championships. The world championships are being discussed in terms of a two-stage event, with the 24 top competitors being invited to the qualifying event, from which the top half would go on to the finals.

The January 1994 issue of MILO featured a very special letter to the editor from a very special guy: Steve Jeck.


A stone that isn't just a stone: The Inver Stone at rest (Inver, Scotland). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Steve Jeck might not have realized it at the time, and we certainly didn't, but he was about to stir things up in the strength world. Steve wrote us a wonderful letter very nicely telling us that he loved MILO, was happy we didn't feel politically compelled to edit out Christian messages, and that SUPER SQUATS and our No. 2 Captains of Crush gripper had contributed to what he had just succeeded in doing: Steve had gone to Scotland and lifted the Inver Stone.

By golly, other men had lifted the Inver Stone, but nobody before or since Steve ever created a tiny fraction of the interest his effort generated. Soon, our MILO team had to follow suit - we went to Scotland, met Nordie, and I had the chance to alternately be humbled by and then succeed in lofting this piece of history, and since then, countless other people have also made the trek. We hung the nickname "Inver Stone" on Steve, but his impact went far beyond just boosting the prominence of this great stone, because Steve was a mighty contributor to the broader field of stone lifting as a significant pastime and enduring challenge.

Steve Jeck is one of our special friends, our resident strength philosopher whose pearls help light up MILO, and we admire him not just for his feats of strength, but also for how he conducts himself and for the example we feel he sets for other people.

And now, with a drum roll, please, we are proud to announce that Steve "Inver Stone" Jeck, co-author of the book Of Stones and Strength and star of the DVD Kviahellan: The Pen Slab, has a new role at IronMind, as we begin featuring his monthly column, "From The Quarry," on our home page.

Read, enjoy, contemplate and benefit from it.

Half-ton squatter Kirk Karwoski is set to compete at the upcoming AAU Raw World Powerlifting Championships and from what ace powerlifting scribe Marty Gallagher says, Captain Kirk is a sight to behold.

Gallagher, who has known Captain Kirk for about twenty years, said, "Karwoski looks freaking incredible - I have never seen him look more muscular, ripped up and freaky. He is lifting at 242 for the 1st time in 10 years (he still holds the IPF world squat record at 914."

For full details on AAU powerlifting, please check: http://www.aausports.org/sprt_Powerlifting.asp.

Originally scheduled for Leipzig, Germany, the 2005 European Senior Weightlifting Championships have just been moved to Sofia, Bulgaria.


Artuc Sedat (Turkey) hits the bottom with his 155-kg clean and jerk, on his way to a gold medal performance in the 56-kg category at the 2004 European Weightlifting Championships (Kiev, Ukraine). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

With its feet reportedly held to the fire in terms of having to produce medals at the 2004 Olympics in order to retain its funding, the German Weightlifting Federation came up empty-handed when its superstar, Ronny Weller, had to withdraw from the competition after suffering a shoulder injury, and a lack of funding is said to have produced the change of venue. The 2005 European Weightlifting Championships is the first major continental championships in the beginning of the next Olympic cycle, and both lifters and coaches are already drawing a bead on Beijing, so this contest could well provide an early glimpse of the some of the top lifters we will see at the 2008 Olympics.

The finals of the White Castle Empire State "Golden Arm" Tournament of Champions are set for November 18.

The action starts at 1:00 sharp on the main stage at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, North Wing-Main Concourse. Full details are available at: www.nycarms.com or call (718) 544-4592.

The guy who put a whole new slant on high-level gripper training and accomplishments is scheduled to do his first seminar early next year.


Besides being on the cutting edge of grip training, Joe Kinney would be our first pick any time we needed help splitting firewood. Photo courtesy of Joe Kinney.

Joe Kinney, the first man certified for officially closing a No. 4 Captains of Crush gripper, brought the grip world a number of significant innovations. For example, before Joe Kinney, we had never heard of anyone doing negatives as a way to excel on grippers, nor had we heard of anyone training so hard on grip stuff that he bled under the fingernails, nor did we know of any grip specialists who saw heavy high-rep squatting as a building block for greater hand strength.

Joe Kinney lit a fire under the grip world, and in January he's scheduled to lead a seminar at the University of Tennessee, and we would guess that someone had the idea that if he can't teach the football team how to boost their hand strength, maybe there's nobody who can.

Along with his benchmark performances, Joe Kinney has already established himself as a significant force in the field of grip-training education: along with Randall Strossen and Nathan Holle, Joe Kinney wrote the book Captains of Crush Grippers: What They Are and How to Close Them, and in our opinion, his grip training video remains in a class by itself - if you haven't already bought a copy, we highly recommend it. The video is $25 plus $6 S&H in the US ($12 S&H for all others), payable by money orders only, and you can get it from: J. B. Kinney, P.O. Box 32, Bean Station, TN 37708.

Pat Rankin and Rick Fowler are putting together a drug-tested strongman contest in St. Louis next February. In conjunction with the strongman contest, plans are being made to hold a bodyweight benchpress-for-reps contest, no shirts, so here's another way to have some fun. For details, please check: http://www.usaplnationals.com/strongman.

Jim Schmitz, who's seen a top weightlifting contest or two, was just telling me how great his local meet was this past weekend.


Jim Schmitz in his position as the MILO reporter covering weightlifting at the 2004 Olympics (Athens, Greece). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D.

It wasn't just that Bruce Wilhelm's son lifted, in his first meet no less, and that he hit a 107.5-kg snatch and 145-kg clean and jerk - both being weights he had never even touched before - or that Shannon Hartnett came in and power snatched 60 kg and cleaned and jerked 82.5 kg; it was also a great gathering of longtime friends and big names from the past. "You never know when a local meet is going to be like this, but this one was really special," Jim said.

Local meets are where it all starts, so if you can, put one on, lift it one, or just go to one and have a great time supporting the folks who make it happen.

In the hope of resolving the back problems that have hampered his weightlifting career, Polish phenom Szymon Kolecki is scheduled to have back surgery this week.


Nailing another one of his trademark clean and jerks, Szymon Kolecki hit this 232.5 kg world record (junior and senior) in the 94-kg category at the 2000 European Weightlifting Championships (Sofia, Bulgaria). Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Kolecki, whose lifting resume includes world records and medals from the World Championships and the Olympics, has had a frustrating series of back problems in the last several years, holding back his weightlifting career. Adding to the challenges faced by this extremely talented and likeable lifter, Kolecki received a provisional suspension from the Polish Weightlifting Federation for a positive drug result shortly before the Athens Olympics; Kolecki was subsequently exonerated and reinstated.

Szymon Kolecki is a rare talent in weightlifting and his many fans around the world are pulling for his successful return to competition.

In the 53rd edition of the World's Wristwrestling Championships, Saturday night, the final competitors qualified for the highly-sought remaining slots at the 2005 Arnold Armwrestling Challenge.


Eric Woelfel (left) and Marcio Barboza (right) going for the glamour title: Men's pro, righthand, 243+. Brazil's Marcio Barboza, the defending Arnold champion, won. Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

Besides the titles themselves, what was also on the table was the right to compete in the 2005 Arnold Armwrestling Challenge, so the action was especially hot in the packed Boomtown (Nevada) Casino main ballroom last night.

On the men's side, the final qualifiers were: Flori Dutra, Jr., Devon Bair, Jeremy Plaster, Allen Fisher, Mike McGraw, John Parton, Jacob Abbott, Kenny Hughes, Herman McCoy, Marcio Barboza, Harold Owens and Clay Rosencranz. Elaine Blik and Jennifer Hoffert picked up the last two women's slots at the 2005 Arnold.

For results from this contest, please check www.armwrestling.com and for more information on armwrestling, and other events, at the 2005 Arnold Expo, please check http://www.arnoldexpo.com/.

With around 1,000 people trying their hand at the GNC Grip Gauntlet at the Mr. Olympia this weekend, only one guy succeeded: Wade Gillingham.

The day before the show, a near disaster was avoided when it was discovered that Wade's Blob had been lost, and IronMind got the urgent call asking if we could get a replacement down there the next day. With thanks to Richard Sorin for having originally given yours truly a Blob about ten years ago, and to FedEx for once again delivering something that positively had to be there on time, the show was able to go on.

Richard had written "What man can lift me" on the Blob he gave me, and this weekend, there was only one - Wade Gillingham - although a couple of guys cracked it off the ground. Wade said that maybe eight guys lifted the Rolling Thunder loaded to 212 pounds, and nobody managed to close the No. 3 Captains of Crush gripper.

So how did Wade do? He started each day by doing the full GNC Grip Gauntlet, and estimates that he lifted the Blob about 50 times over the weekend.

Wade said this one was different from the one he usually lifts: "It felt strong off the floor, but then wanted to slip." Wade said that Richard Sorin had previously stated that not all Blobs are identical, and while we can think of excellent reasons why this could well be the case, the bottom line is that Wade and Richard can probably lift any Blob and most people won't lift any Blob.

Appetite whetted? Want to try to your hand at this? Start training now and give the GNC Grip Gauntlet a shot at the FitExpo in Pasadena, California next February: www.thefitexpo.com.