Columbus - Speaking tonight at the athletes' meeting for the Arnold Strongman contest, Dr. Terry Todd said that this "has been a very challenging year," and added, "we are on the verge of a historic contest."

Describing how his goal had been to bring together the best weightlifters, powerlifters and strongmen, Todd said that "there is no question that we have the world's best strongmen," pointing to a field that includes three-time Arnold Strongman winner Zydrunas Savickas, who is also the 2005 IFSA world champion, and 2005 World's Strongest Man winner Mariusz Pudzianowski. Todd highlighted the accomplishments of Brian Siders and Benedikt Mangnusson in powerlifting, and the recent performance of Mikael Koklyaev in weightlifting to round out his point.

"This is the closest we have ever come and might be the closest we ever will come" to fulfilling the original goal, Todd said, of bringing together the very best competitors from across the strength world.