The Strongest Man on Earth
by Randall J. Strossen, IronMind Enterprises, Inc. © 2004
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.