Vasyl Virastyuk ( uk, Василь Вірастюк; born 22 April 1974), is a

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

politician and former

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. These ...

competitor. He is a brother of Roman Virastyuk. Virastyuk was the winner of World's Strongest Man 2004. In a 28 March 2021 parliamentary

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

, Virastyuk was a candidate for

Servant of the People Servant of the People (SN; uk, Слуга народу, Sluha narodu, ) is a liberal, centrist, pro-European political party in Ukraine. It was formed in late 2017 and was officially registered on 31 March 2018 on the basis of the previously ...

. On 15 June 2021, he was sworn in as a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Ukrainian parliament The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...

Career

Sport Career

Vasyl Virastyuk competed in the finals 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 ...

contest in 2003 and 2004. He finished third in 2003, behind then-defending champion

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 ...

and runner-up

Žydrūnas Savickas Žydrūnas Savickas (; born ...

. The following year, Virastyuk won the

2004 World's Strongest Man The 2004 World's Strongest Man was the 27th edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Vasyl Virastyuk from Ukraine. It was his first title after finishing third the previous year. Zydrunas Savickas from Lithuania finished second for the thi ...

title, placing ahead of Savickas and Pudzianowski (Pudzianowski would later be disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance). After this victory, there was a split in the world of Strongman competition. While some of the competitors such as Virastyuk and Žydrūnas Savickas started competing for the IFSA Strongman title (with Savickas winning the title in 2005 and 2006), others such as Pudzianowski remained and competed for the

Met-Rx MET-Rx is an American brand of nutritional supplements originally produced by Met-Rx, Inc., a California company started by Scott Connelly, and sold several times since. The brand is best known for pioneering a new category of bodybuilding supple ...

World's Strongest Man title (with Pudzianowski winning in 2005, 2007, and 2008). After finishing second in 2005 and third in 2006, at the 2007 IFSA World Championship in

Geumsan Geumsan County (''Geumsan-gun''; Korean: 금산군) is a county in South Chungcheong Province (Before 1963, Geumsan was in Jeollabuk-do), South Korea. History Administrative district name, Geumsan-gun, have nowadays was originate from the union of ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, Virastyuk defeated two-time IFSA World Champion Savickas. With this victory, he became the first athlete in the history of

to win both a

title and an IFSA World title. Savickas would be the second to accomplish this feat after winning the

2009 World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man 2009 was the 32nd edition of World's Strongest Man and took place in Valletta, Malta from 26 September to 3 October 2009. It was sponsored by PartyPoker.com. It was anticipated by the strength athletics world as promisin ...

title in

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. Virastyuk has also achieved a podium finish on three occasions in three consecutive years (2005, 2006 and 2007) at the

Arnold Strongman Classic The Arnold Strongman Classic is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world, determining who is the Strongest Man in the World. Created by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Lorimer and Terry Todd, it is an offshoot of the Ar ...

coming second on each occasion to

Žydrūnas Savickas Žydrūnas Savickas (; born ...

. At the 2008 Arnold Strongman Classic, Virastyuk was forced to withdraw due to injuries, and finished in tenth place with only 8.5 points.

Political career

On 11 February 2021, Virastyuk was nominated to run in the 28 March 2021 parliamentary

for constituency 87, located in

Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вська о́бласть, translit=Ivano-Frankivska oblast), also referred to as Ivano-Frankivshchyna ( uk, Іва́но-Франкі́вщина), is an administrative divisions of Ukrain ...

, by

.Virastyuk told how he decided to go to people's deputies and with whom he consulted

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...

(11 February 2021)Weightlifter Vasyl Virastyuk goes to the by-elections to the Rada from "Servants of the People" - mass media

UNIAN The UNIAN or Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News ( uk, Українське Незалежне Інформаційне Агентство Новин, УНІАН, translit=Ukrayins'ke Nezalezhne Informatsiyne Ahentstvo Novyn) is a ...

(10 February 2021) On 22 April 2021, the

Central Election Commission of Ukraine The Central Election Commission of Ukraine ( uk, Центральна виборча комісія України, commonly abbreviated in Ukrainian as ЦВК (''Tse-Ve-Ka''); sometimes referred to as the Central Electoral Commission of Ukrai ...

(CEC) officially declared Virastyuk the winner of the election with 31.25%. Runner up Oleksandr Shevchenko officially received 749 votes less (gaining 29.69% of vote).The Supreme Court annulled the CEC protocol by which Virastyuk was elected People's Deputy

(2 May 2021) Shevchenko appealed this decision and on 2 May 2021, the

Supreme Court of Ukraine The Supreme Court of Ukraine ( uk, Верховний Суд України, ) is the highest judicial body in the system of courts of general jurisdiction in Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europ ...

revoked the April 22 CEC decision claiming the CEC had not ensured the verification of all violations committed during the election. On 19 May 2021, the CEC drew up a new protocol on the results of the election; this time, they declared the results of 6 polling stations invalid. According to this document, Virastyuk had gained 14,811 votes, Shevchenko 13,942 and

Ruslan Koshulynskyi Ruslan Volodymyrovych Koshulynskyi ( uk, Руслан Володимирович Кошулинський; born 9 September 1969) is a Ukrainian politician, nationalist, soldier, and former People's Deputy of Ukraine who served as the 9th Deputy S ...

13,463.The CEC once again recognized Virastyuk as the winner of the by-elections to the Verkhovna Rada

(19 May 2021) On 23 May 2021, the Supreme Court annulled this protocol too after an appeal by Shevchenko.The court again annulled Virastyuk's victory in the by-elections to the Rada

(24 May 2021) The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court annulled this decision on 5 June 2021 and ten days later he took the oath of the

People's Deputy of Ukraine People's, branded as ''People's Viennaline'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH'', is an Austrian airline headquartered in Vienna. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights ma ...

.Virastyuk was again recognized the winner in 87 districts

(5 June 2021)Virastyuk told what he would do in the Rada

(15 June 2021)

Honours

* 3rd place

(2003) * 1st place

(2004) * 2nd place World Championship (IFSA) (2005) * 3rd place World Championship (IFSA) (2006) * 1st place World Championship (IFSA) (2007)

Filmography

* 2009 – How Cossacks... - The Blacksmith * 2013 – Strong Ivan - Velet * 2014 – Lonely under the Сontract - Edik * 2016 – The Dragon Spell - Kyrylo Kozhumiaka * 2018 –

The Stolen Princess ''The Stolen Princess'' () is a 2018 Ukrainian 3D animated fantasy film directed by Oleg Malamuzh and based on the fairy tale ''Ruslan and Ludmila'' by Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin. The film premiere in Ukraine took place on March 7, 2018. Th ...

- Troyeschyna gangster * 2018 – The Adventures of S Nicholas - Kaban * 2019 – Edelweiss Hotel - Police captain * 2019 – Polina and the Mystery of a Film Studio - The Viking

References