FORTISSIMUS

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MAGNUS SAMUELSSON : A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

The soft-spoken Magnus Samuelsson is in fact one of the greatest ever to have stepped into any strongman’s venue the world over. Less than four years after the giant Swede made his début at the 1995 World Strongest Man competition, he won the title in 1998. Ever since, although severely impaired by injuries, he stood taller than most of the world-class competitors ans kept on winning. The giant (2 meters tall) became an icon. Between 1995 and 2001, he entered 40 international strongman competitions, winning 20 of them, getting on the podium 35 times, an unprecedented feat.

He entered 10 World Strongest Man contest, with 8 top-five and 5 podiums. He was there in 1995, then non-stop from 1997 to 2004 and back in 2007. This could well be a record. And being Sweden Strongest Man at least seven times has to go down to the record book as one remarkable feat.

Asking the towering Magnus to give you the secret about his immensely strong upper body or his tremendous gripping power or even his crushing power, he will make a reference to genetics and quickly shift to hard work and dedication. Anyone can read this statement of his on his website: «I am used to doing things properly, so I don’t go to the gym to stand around showing of.»

Of course it started on a given day, when he, and his younger brother Torbjörn, dreamt of strongman competitions as they watched Jon Pall Sigmarsson on TV rise to stardom. But if they thought that it would really happen for them was another story. Yet it did. And in 1998, in Morocco, as Magnus won the World Strongest Man’s title, Torbjörn won back at home the Sweden’s Strongest man competition. And few years later, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, both brothers competed in the 2002 World Strongest Man contest with their parents in attendance.

Magnus acknowledges his huge success as a strongman but will immediately credit his wife Kristin as a major contributor. And David, their son, will have two great examples as role-models for his own life.

Millions the world over have seen the giant Swede in action and almost undefeated in such events as pulling, carrying and stones’ lifting. But what is to be remembered most is the undeniable fact that Magnus Samuelsson has been strongman’s most noble and greatest ambassador. He has brought nobility to the sport and that should stand out as the greatest accomplishment of the man who considers «Strongman to be the ultimate strength sport»

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