Le Defi Mark Ten International was one of the most prestigious

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. Thes ...

contest in the world in the 1980s and early 1990s. Staged in Quebec, Canada, it was begun as a tribute to

Louis Cyr Louis Cyr (; born Cyprien-Noé Cyr, October 10, 1863 - November 10, 1912) was a Canadian, Canadian strongman (strength athlete), strongman with a career spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His recorded feats, including lifting (1/4 ...

and was notable for the quality of the strength athletes it attracted, which included a number of winners of 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, including

Jón Páll Sigmarsson Jón Páll Sigmarsson (28 April 1960 – 16 January 1993) was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Stronge ...

Bill Kazmaier William Kazmaier (born December 30, 1953) is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During the 1970s and 1980s, he set numerous powerlifti ...

and

Magnús Ver Magnússon Magnús Ver Magnússon (born 23 April 1963) is an Icelandic former powerlifter and strongman competitor. He is a four-time World's Strongest Man, having won in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of ...

History

Live

strength athletics Strength athletics, also known as Strongman competitions, is a sport which tests Strongman (strength athlete), competitors' strength in a variety of non-traditional ways. Some of the disciplines are similar to those in powerlifting and some powerl ...

competitions had begun in the late 1970s as a distinct set of disciplines from other strength related sports such as powerlifting or Highland Games. However, the associations of the new phenomena with its sporting forebears resulted in certain countries being at the vanguard of such competitions. One such country with a deep rooted past in strongman competition was Canada, and in particular

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, referred to as a "cradle of strongmen".David Webster, ''Sons of Samson - Volume 2'', page 62, (Ironmind Enterprises Inc: Nevada City), In 1984 Jean-Claude Arsenault began to promote a competition named after the most famous of Quebec's strongmen of the past,

. The Louis Cyr Tournament was quickly a success and gained the sponsorship of a cigarette company resulting in its change of name to Defi Mark Ten. The first outing of the competition caused some newspapers to claim that "Nationalism marred contest" citing the fact that Quebec was painted on the backdrop to the competition deliberately separate from Canada and grouped with France. Despite this, there was noted by the same newspaper an impressive camaraderie amongst the athletes. The event attracted the very top strength athletes in the world. Amongst these names were

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 w ...

and

Jon Pall Sigmarsson Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Tom Magee Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

was the winner of the first three tournaments and the giant Mark Higgins has been cited as the final winner before the sponsorship ran out in 1992. A final contest was reportedly held two years later, with Raimundas Zenkevicius claiming that title although sources differ. In 2008 a competition called

Fortissimus The Fortissimus is a defunct event in strength athletics. The name means "the mightiest" and was a multi-event challenge at the end of which the winner is crowned as the "Strongest Man on Earth". It was set up to bring together the strongest compe ...

, founded by Paul Ohl, was staged in Canada which also claimed to be a tribute to the great Louis Cyr and was thus seen as the natural successor to the Defi Mark Ten International.

Results

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Riku Kiri Riku Kiri (born April 5, 1963 in Kotka, Finland) is a Finnish former strongman and powerlifter, best known for competing in the World's Strongest Man competition, narrowly missing out on capturing the title on more than one occasion. He has been ...

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Jón Páll Sigmarsson Jón Páll Sigmarsson (28 April 1960 – 16 January 1993) was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Stronge ...

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Jón Páll Sigmarsson Jón Páll Sigmarsson (28 April 1960 – 16 January 1993) was an Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder who was the first man to win the World's Stronge ...

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Hjalti Árnason Hjalti Árnason (born 18 February 1963), nicknamed Hjalti Úrsus, is an Icelandic former strongman competitor and world champion powerlifter. Hjalti was known by the nickname "The Great Ursus". He first began in ...

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Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

*Results from David Horne's World of GripDavid Horne's World of Grip
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References

Sports competitions in Canada Strongmen competitions

History

Results

See also

References