Bill Lyndon (born 30 January 1964) is an Australian former

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. These ...

competitor. Lyndon is a 5-time winner of Australia's Strongest Man, and a 4-time entrant to the

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international Strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decembe ...

competition.

Early years

Bill Lyndon was born in Melbourne, Australia. He was one of seven children having five sisters and a brother. He was educated at high school in Melbourne and went on to business college, afterwards becoming a

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic ...

. A keen sportsman, he played a variety of sports including

Australian Rules Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

and from the age of 23,

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effor ...

. His rugby league led him to spend two seasons in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

and as a powerlifter he won four national powerlifting titles. Interview with Bill Lyndon on Samson-Power.com, 27 January 2000
/ref>

Strongman career

In terms of strongman competition his international career began after he was invited to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

for the 1993

World Muscle Power Classic The World Muscle Power Classic (WMPC) (sometimes known as the World Muscle Power Championships) was one of the most enduring annual strongmen competitions, running for twenty years and in that time attaining the position of the second most prestig ...

. Some of Bill's competitors in this contest included: Gary Taylor,

Manfred Hoeberl Manfred Hoeberl (; born 12 May 1964) is an Austrian former strongman and powerlifter who was known as having the largest arms in the world during the early-mid 1990s. Hoeberl was born in the same town as body ...

Wayne Price Wayne Price is a former professional strongman competitor from South Africa. Wayne was a finalist in the 1995 World's Strongest Man contest, and was South Africa's Strongest Man South Africa's Strongest Man is an annual strongman competition hel ...

Magnus Ver Magnusson Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...

(referred to as "Maggie" by Lyndon) and

Forbes Cowan Forbes Cowan (born 16 October 1964) is a Scottish former strongman competitor and multiple entrant to the World's Strongest Man. Although he never captured the World's Strongest Man title, during the 1990s he was the World Muscle Power champion ...

. Although Lyndon did not feature among the contenders he found the experience of being around such renowned strongmen a rewarding one. The 1993 World's Strongest Man competition was held in

Orange, France Orange (; Provençal: ''Aurenja'' or ''Aurenjo'' ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is about north of Avignon, on the departmental border with Gard, which follows th ...

and Lyndon was considered for the last spot but Harold "Iron Bear" Collins was chosen that year. The following year, another triumph in Australia's Strongest Man secured Lyndon a spot at the

1994 World's Strongest Man The 1994 World's Strongest Man was the 17th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Magnus Ver Magnusson from Iceland. It was his second title after finishing second the previous 2 years in a row. Manfred Hoeberl from Austria finished seco ...

contest, but failed to make the finals. Nathan Jones won the Australian title in 1995 and got the place at

1995 World's Strongest Man The 1995 World's Strongest Man was the 18th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Magnus Ver Magnusson from Iceland, it was his second consecutive and third overall title. Gerrit Badenhorst from South Africa finished second after finishi ...

contest, where his arm was broken in an armwrestling match in the heats with 1998 World's Strongest Man champion

Magnus Samuelsson Magnus Samuelsson (born December 21, 1969), is a Swedish actor, former strongman and winner of the 1998 World's Strongest Man contest in Morocco. He has also made it to the World's Strongest Man podium 5 times and the finals 10 times and is rega ...

. Lyndon went on to compete at the

1996 World's Strongest Man The 1996 World's Strongest Man was the 19th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Magnús Ver Magnússon from Iceland. This was Magnús' fourth WSM title, tying the record of fellow Icelander Jón Páll Sigmarsson. Riku Kiri from Finland ...

, 1997 World's Strongest Man and 1998 World's Strongest Man qualifying heats, but he was never able to qualify for the finals. In 1999, when the IFSA was still running WSM,

set up a rival AFSA organization. Lyndon joined this and as such was banned by IFSA. Lyndon's decision was swayed by the fact that he was not getting enough competitions via IFSA. In 1998 he had only competed in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

and

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

, whereas the AFSA offered five competitions in the first year.

Retirement

In the late 1990s Bill looked towards his own Australian based sports promotion company. He formed 'Spartan Warriors Australia' and began advertising extensively in magazines and at public events, He later started a website called Aussie Power designed to cover and feature many diverse athletes from strongman, powerlifters, olympic lifters, throwers covering Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

Personal Records

* Squat - 265 kg (583 lbs.) *

Bench press The bench press, or chest press, is a weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. Although the bench press is a full-body exercise, the muscles primarily used are the pectorali ...

- 212 kg (466.4 lbs.) *

Deadlift The deadlift is a weight training exercise in which a loaded barbell or bar is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting exercises, ...

- 310 kg (682 lbs.) *

Military press The overhead press is an upper-body weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight overhead while seated or standing. It is mainly used to develop the anterior deltoid muscles of the shoulder. The standing version was once a compone ...

- 145 kg (319 lbs.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyndon, Bill Living people Australian strength athletes 1964 births Australian powerlifters Sportspeople from Melbourne