Gerrit Badenhorst (born 10 October 1962) is a former WPC world champion powerlifter and professional strongman competitor from South Africa.

Powerlifting

Badenhorst was born on 10 October 1962 in De Aar,

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

, South Africa.David Webster, ''Sons of Samson – Volume 2'', pages 74–5, (Ironmind Enterprises Inc: Nevada City), As a sportsman he played rugby union, but excelled in the sports of weightlifting and powerlifting. Before Badenhorst competed for South Africa internationally on the strongman stage, he first represented his country as a powerlifter. Between 1988 and 1990, Badenhorst won three world titles in the World Powerlifting Congress organization. In so doing, he broke world records in the squat at , and the deadlift at 402.5 kg (887.4 lb). He also broke the world record in the total (squat+

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 ...

+deadlift) of 1102.5 kg (2431 lb). At first His world titles and world records led to him being acclaimed the greatest ever powerlifter at the time, with his totals having beaten the likes of Lars Noren,

Don Reinhoudt Donald C. Reinhoudt (born March 5, 1945) is an American former powerlifter and strongman. He won the IPF World Powerlifting Superheavyweight Championship four consecutive times (1973–1976), and won the World's Strongest Man in 1979. Widely co ...

and Bill Kazmaier. However Kazmaier, Noren and Rienhound had not utilized bench shirts when posting their totals. Lars Noren Posted his 1077.5 kg total in the 1987 IPF World Championship, which was drug tested. Having reached the pinnacle of the sport of powerlifting, a lack of financial incentive led him to strongman competitions.

Strongman

Badenhorst was eight times South Africa's Strongest Man. Badenhorst was also a seven time World's Strongest Man finalist, coming second at the

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 ...

and third 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 ...

contests.Biography at strongestman.billhenderson.org
/ref> In strength athletics Badenhorst had already made an impact in South Africa having been crowned South Africa's Strongest Man in 1989, 1990 and 1992. At the

1992 World's Strongest Man The 1992 World's Strongest Man was the 15th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Ted van der Parre from the Netherlands after finishing fourth the previous year. It was his first title. 1991 winner Magnus Ver Magnusson from Iceland fini ...

as a newcomer he placed fourth. In 1993 he won the highly regarded

World Strongman Challenge The World Strongman Challenge was one of the most enduring annual strongmen competitions, running in various guises for twenty years, with only two years break. In that time it attained the position of one of the most prestigious strongman contest ...

and entered the

1993 World's Strongest Man The 1993 World's Strongest Man was the 16th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Gary Taylor from the United Kingdom. It was his first title after finishing fifth the previous year. 1991 winner Magnus Ver Magnusson from Iceland was run ...

contest as one of the favourites but had to retire due to an injury in the Pole Push. 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 ...

he again came fourth. Determined to improve, and having won South Africa's Strongest Man once again, he entered the

as one of the favourites. Despite an injury sustained in the Bavarian stone lift during the qualifying heats, he came second overall to Magnus Ver Magnusson in the finals. He competed in a further five World's Strongest Man contests, coming third in 1996, and 7th in 2000. Badenhorst won his heat at the 1998 World's Strongest Man and qualified for the final, but sustained an injury and was unable to compete.

Personal Records

''Done in official WPC Powerlifting meets.'' * Squat – 450 kg (992.8 lb) ''double ply squat suit, with knee wraps. Former WPC World Record in 140 kg/308lb class '' *

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 ...

– 250 kg (551.15 lb) ''double ply shirt'' * Deadlift – 402.5 kg (887.4 lb) ''Raw, former WPC World Record in 308lb class'' * Total – 1,105 kg (450/250/402.5) / 2,431 lb (992/551/887) * ''Career aggregate total'' – 1,102.5 kg (450/250/402.5) / 2,475 lb (992/550/887)

Personal life

Honours

*8 times South Africa's Strongest Man (1989, 1990, 1992–1995, 1998 and 2001) *4th place

*8th place (withdrew due to injury)

*4th place

*2nd place

*3rd place

*7th place

2000 World's Strongest Man The 2000 World's Strongest Man was the 23rd edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Janne Virtanen from Finland. It was his first title after finishing second the previous year. Svend Karlsen from Norway finished second after finishing t ...

*DNP (qualified for finals, injured during heats) 1998 World's Strongest Man

References

External links

www.vikingpower.net profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badenhorst, Gerrit 1962 births Afrikaner people Living people South African strength athletes South African people of German descent South African people of Dutch descent South African powerlifters