Magnús Ver Magnússon (born 23 April 1963) is an Icelandic former

powerlifter 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 ...

and

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 ...

competitor. He is a four-time

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 Decem ...

, having won in 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest strongmen of all time.

Career

Powerlifting

Magnús began powerlifting in 1984. In 1985, he won a medal in the junior European and World Championships. He won the Senior European title in the 125 kg (276 lb) class in 1988 and 1990. His best lifts in competition include a 437.5 kg (964.5 lb) squat, 400 kg (882 lb) raw squat, 275 kg (605 lb) bench press with shirt and 250 kg raw bench press, 375 kg (827 lb) raw

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 ...

, and a raw total of 1015 kg (2238 lb). He once held the world record for a tire deadlift of 445 kg (981 lb).

Strongman

Magnús competed in his first strongman contest in 1985, finishing third in the

Iceland's Strongest Man Strength athletics in Iceland refers to the participation of Icelandic competitors and the holding of Icelandic events in the modern phenomenon of strength athletics inaugurated by the World's Strongest Man. The sport's roots have a long and ancien ...

competition won by

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 Strong ...

. He decided to focus solely on strongman competition after he won the

1991 World's Strongest Man The 1991 World's Strongest Man was the 14th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Magnus Ver Magnusson from Iceland. It was his first title. Henning Thorsen from Denmark finished second after finishing fourth the previous year, and Gary ...

contest. His strongman victories include the 1989

Pure Strength Pure Strength was a strongman competition held from 1987 to 1990 which was created by Tjalling van den Bosch. Event History The first year of the event was known as "Pure Strength Challenge" and it was a single man competition featuring only Bil ...

contest in Scotland, the 1991 and 1993 International Power Challenge, the 1992 Scandinavian Strongest Man (Finland), the 1992 Nordic Strongest Man (Denmark), the 1994

Europe's Strongest Man Europe's Strongest Man is an annual strength athletics competition which began in 1980. The event is held in various locations throughout Europe, and features exclusively European strongman competitors. Mariusz Pudzianowski holds the record for m ...

, the 1995 World Muscle Power Championship, and the 1995 and 1997 Viking Challenge. In addition to his four World's Strongest Man titles, Magnús was also runner-up in 1992 and 1993. He has also won the Iceland's strongest man competition many times and the West coast Viking (Vestfjarðavíkingurinn) of Iceland nine times. He is considered to be one of the first modern strongman competitors and is regarded by many to be one of the best strongmen of all time. He carried Jón Páll's formula of being athletic for the dynamic tests of strength and having tremendous static strength to outlift some of the best Powerlifters. He was able to easily out-deadlift the favoured O.D Wilson by 40 kg in 1991 and out-squatted the world record holder in the squat,

Gerrit Badenhorst 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, South Africa.David Webs ...

, in 1995. After Magnus squatted 437.5 kg, Badenhorst commented that he had previously underestimated Magnus' pure strength and that Magnus' squat was the greatest squat he had ever seen from someone of his bodyweight. He competed in a one-off event at the Giants Live Strongman Championship 2019 held in Wembley against fellow strongman legend

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 ...

in the Hercules Hold, with the weight being reduced by 20 kg on each side from what the professional athletes were working with. Despite having not competed in a strongman event since 2005, Magnusson stunned the capacity crowd with a time of 101.2 seconds (1m 41.2s), whilst Kazmaier could only manage just over 18 seconds.

Other

In 2008, Magnús made an appearance on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

's ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

''. He also appeared in a

Coors Light Coors Light is a 4.2% (US) ABV light beer brewed in Golden, Colorado; Albany, Georgia; Elkton, Virginia; Fort Worth, Texas; Irwindale, California; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was first produced in 1978 by the Coors Brewing Company. The Ca ...

commercial as the "World's Strongest Man" which aired in the U.S. Magnús frequently judges international powerlifting and strongman competitions. He owns a powerlifting and strongman gym in

Kópavogur Kópavogur () is a town in Iceland that is the country's second largest municipality by population. It lies immediately south of Reykjavík and is part of the Capital Region. The name literally means ''seal pup inlet''. The town seal contains t ...

called Jakaból (Nest of Giants). Magnús is the founder of the Magnús Ver Magnússon Classic, the MVM Classic. A strongman competition held in Iceland that qualifies the winner for the Worlds Strongest Man. Magnus ver has 2 daughters and a grandson

Personal records

*Squat - 437.5 kg (964.5 lbs) (World's Strongest Man 1995) (not to competition depth) *Squat - 400 kg (882 lbs) ingle plyat 1991 Icelandic powerlifting championships *Deadlift - 370.5 kg (817 lbs) ingle plyat 1991 Icelandic powerlifting championships *Deadlift - 370 kg (816 lbs) at 1996 WSM Final *Tire Deadlift (off 15") - 455 kg (1003 lbs) *Bench press - 275 kg (606 lbs) ingle plyat 2004 Icelandic powerlifting championships *Log press - 160 kg (353 lbs) at 1995 Strongest Man on Earth *Natural Stone press - 136 kg (300 lbs) (Former world record)

References

External links

Profile

Magnús's Coors Light commercial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnusson, Magnus Ver 1963 births

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 ...

Living people