World's Strongest Man Super Series president Ulf Bengtsson said today that the 2005 World's Strongest Man Super Series will be launched at Muscle Beach (Venice, California) on April 30th.

Bengtsson learned this morning that the Arnold Strongman contest, which had been scheduled to be the inaugural competition for the 2005 World's Strongest Man Super Series, had been reassigned yesterday to IFSA Strongman, in a move that at once sent shock waves throughout the international strongman community and relieved enormous pressure from top competitors who were caught in between the two organizations: IFSA Strongman and World's Strongest Man Super Series.

The shock was the result of the 180-degree change in affiliation with the Arnold strongman event, and the relief stemmed from the fact that now the IFSA athletes who dearly wanted to compete at the Arnold would be able to without jeopardizing their relationship with IFSA Strongman.

"I learn as long as I live," Bengtsson said, about the cataclysmic announcement, news which was first reported by IronMind® mid-afternoon yesterday, California time. Because Bengtsson is based in Europe, there was a concern that he might not have been apprised of this dramatic shift and he confirmed this morning that he "had not even received a phone call."

At once philosophical and unbowed by the news, Bengtsson said that he prefers to have received this signal as early as it came, rather than later, when the results might have been disastrous, and despite the impact of this announcement, Bengtsson retained his sense of humor.

"I expect to see my statue in strongman heaven and to be receiving my commission soon," Bengtsson said, alluding to his conviction that the formation of World's Strongest Man Super Series led to IFSA Strongman paying its athletes more, faster.