Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou (Cheick Ahmed al-Hassan Sanou) is a strongman from

Bobo-Dioulasso Bobo-Dioulasso is a city in Burkina Faso with a population of 904,920 (); it is the second-largest city in the country, after Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. The name means "home of the Bobo-Dioula". The local Bobo-speaking population (re ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

. He is the 2018 and 2019 World Log Lift Champion and holds the

Guinness World record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for most

overhead 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 ...

es (of a person) in one minute.

Early life

Cheick Sanou was born in Burkina Faso and was a large child who was bullied at school; he earned the nickname "Biby" at an early age. He had early interests in sprinting, gymnastics and basketball. At age 17 he attended the University of Moncton, in Canada and earned a Business administration degree. During that time, he began weightlifting and was a true natural talent. In 2013, at age 21, Biby entered and won his first

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 ...

competition. He said that after his strongman successes his nickname changed to "Iron Biby".

Career achievements

*World record holder, 229 kg log lift, SSE Hydro, Glasgow, 18 September 2021. * 1st Place World Powerlifting Championship (junior class) (2014), both in

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 ...

(217.5 kg) and

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, ...

(307.5 kg) at age 22 * 4th Place

Giants Live Giants Live was created in 2009 as the official Tour that qualifies strongmen to compete in the annual World's Strongest Man contest. At each Grand Prix, up to twelve international strongmen come together and compete over six events. The top three ...

World Tour Finals Manchester 2017 * African Record 213 kg Log lift Personal Best 2018 * 1st Place World Log Lift Championship 2018 (213 kg) * 3rd Place Ultimate Strongman Junior World Championships * 1st Place, log lift, Europe Strongest Man 2019 (220 kg) * Tied for 5th place in

World Tour Finals Manchester 2019 * On March 1, 2020, he posted an unofficial overhead lift of 240 kg (529 lbs). * On July 18, 2020, he posted an unofficial overhead lift of 260 kg (573,3 lbs). * 217 kg/477.4 lb Axle Press (World Record) - Performed at the 2021 Strongman Classic at Royal Albert Hall.

References

External links

Video with interviews at Giants Live 2019
1992 births Burkina Faso strength athletes Living people 21st-century Burkinabé people {{BurkinaFaso-sport-bio-stub