Total Raimonds Bergmanis (born 25 July 1966) is a Latvian politician and former

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

. He is a former

Olympic weightlifter Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lift ...

and retired

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.

Athletic career

Bergmanis was part of the Latvian Olympic Weightlifting team, and has set 21 Latvian records. He is a three-time Olympian (

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

). In 1992, he carried the Latvian flag at the opening ceremony, the first person to do so since 1936 when independent Latvia last participated in a Summer Olympiad. Bergmanis had a successful strongman career and was known for his consistency across multiple disciplines, but never managed to win many events outright. He did, however, win the World Muscle Power Championships in 1997, and followed this up with two 2nd place finishes in 1998 and 1999. He also competed in the Arnold's Strongest Man Contest, his best result coming in the 2003 and 2004 competitions where he placed 3rd on both occasions. He also reached the reached the finals in 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 ...

contest several times, finishing 7th in 1996 and 5th in 1997. He competed in the 2001 contest, but was eliminated in the qualifying heats, before producing arguably the best performance of his entire strongman career in the 2002 WSM contest. In what was a hugely talented field, he found himself in 6th place after the first four events. However, by coming 3rd in the Asia Stone - breaking the old world record in the process - and then winning the last two events of the final - the Deadlift and the Atlas Stones - Bergmanis managed to overhaul a deficit to reigning champion

Svend Karlsen Svend 'Viking' Karlsen (born 6 October 1967) is a Norway, Norwegian former Strongman (strength athlete), strongman, powerlifter, and International Federation of BodyBuilders, IFBB professional bodybuilder. Being a winner of the World's Strongest ...

and held off strong late charges from Juha-Matti Räsänen and

Johnny Perry Johnny Perry (October 24, 1972 – November 21, 2002) was a professional strongman competitor and professional wrestler from Zebulon, North Carolina, US. Perry finished fourth in the 2002 World's Strongest Man competition. Death A few months afte ...

to finish 3rd overall. He then followed this performance by finishing 4th in 2003 and 2004, although the latter was a result of

Mariusz Pudzianowski Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski (; born 7 February 1977), also known as "Pudzian" and "Dominator", is a Polish entrepreneur, mixed martial artist and former strongman competitor. With 43 international victories at a record 70% winning percentage ...

failing a drug test, meaning Bergmanis was promoted from 5th to 4th. He also produced strong showings in several Strongman Superseries events, including setting a new world record of 190kg in the log lift at the 2004 Moscow Superseries event. After the end of his career, Bergmanis worked in Latvian television and presented a number of programs including "Happy Family" and "The Royal Jokes Tournament" and was commentator for the Latvian Strongman Championships. He was elected as a president of the Latvian Olympic club, and had previously been a board member and vice president. In March 2013, he was elected one of the vice presidents of the

Latvian Olympic Committee The Latvian Olympic Committee ( or LOK) is a non-profit organization that is the National Olympic Committee for Latvia. Its headquarters are in Riga. History The Committee was created on 23 April 1922. In 1923 it received a notice from Inter ...

Political career

In 2013 he was elected as one of the vice presidents of the

. He has worked in the

Latvian National Armed Forces The Latvian National Armed Forces ( lv, Latvijas Nacionālie bruņotie spēki), or NBS, are the armed forces of Latvia. Latvia's defense concept is based on a mobile professional rapid response force and reserve segment that can be called upon re ...

. Bergmanis is a member of the

Latvian Green Party The Latvian Green Party ( lv, Latvijas Zaļā partija, LZP) is a green political party in Latvia. It was founded in 1990. It was a member of the European Green Party from 2003 until its expulsion in 2019. It is positioned in the centre and lean ...

, part of the

Union of Greens and Farmers The Union of Greens and Farmers ( lv, Zaļo un Zemnieku savienība, ZZS) is an agrarian political alliance in Latvia. It is made up of the Latvian Farmers' Union, Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, and For Latvia and Ventspils. It is p ...

political alliance A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

. He was elected to the Latvian parliament in 2014. He became minister of defense in 2015 after his predecessor

Raimonds Vējonis Raimonds Vējonis (born 15 June 1966) is a Latvian politician who served as the 9th President of Latvia from 2015 to 2019 and the president of the Latvian Basketball Association since 2020. He is a member of the Latvian Green Party, part of the ...

was elected

President of Latvia The president of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Valsts prezidents ) is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Latvian National Armed Forces, National Armed Forces of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. The term of office is four years. Before 1999, it w ...

References

External links

sports-reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergmanis, Raimonds 1966 births Living people People from Pļaviņas Latvian Green Party politicians Ministers of Defence of Latvia Deputies of the 12th Saeima Deputies of the 13th Saeima Deputies of the 14th Saeima Latvian strength athletes Latvian male weightlifters Olympic weightlifters of Latvia Weightlifters at the 1992 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Weightlifters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Riga Technical University alumni Latvian Academy of Sport Education alumni European Weightlifting Championships medalists