International Federation of Strength Athletes

International Federation of Strength Athletes
Type Sports federation
Headquarters Glasgow, Scotland
Official language
English
Managing Director
 Christian Fennell

The International Federation of Strength Athletes (IFSA or IFSA Strongman) was an international governing body for strongman competition. IFSA operated from 1995-2007 and was based in Glasgow, Scotland.[1]

History

Origins

In 1995, David Webster, a Scotsman who later received an OBE for his services to sport and head coordinator of the World's Strongest Man from its inception, and his colleague Dr Douglas Edmunds, seven-times Scottish shot and discus champion and twice world caber champion,[2] along with representatives from the competitors in strength athletics including Jamie Reeves, Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert formed a governing body called the International Federation of Strength Athletes ("IFSA"). IFSA ran its own grand prix events from 1995-2001 in cooperation with WSM. IFSA began co-producing the Strongman Super Series events from 2001-2004, still in cooperation with WSM. IFSA entered an agreement with World Class Events (WCE), headed by Ulf Bengtsson, to run the Strongman Super Series. The Strongman Super Series was designed to award the annual Strongman World Championship title, but also acted as a qualifying vehicle for the World's Strongest Man contest.

Split with WSM

For almost a decade IFSA and WSM worked in full cooperation, but this changed at the end of the 2004 season when IFSA returned to organizing its own grand prix events and World Strongman Championships from 2005-2007. The InvestGroup Ventures' sports rights management arm, InvestGroup Sports Management, invested heavily into IFSA and this led to the creation of IFSA Strongman. The strategy was to acquire most of the international assets and properties relating to the strongman sport. In essence this was a new organization[3] with some, such as Magnus Samuelsson describing it as "a new company...with the same name as our old federation".[4] The attempt at dominance was not well received by TWI/WSM and disagreement ensued leading to a split in the sport. When IFSA and WSM split in 2004, the Strongman Super Series sided with TWI/WSM forming a rival federation to the IFSA.[3] With the WSM being a TWI owned event, IFSA Holdings announced its own World Strongman Championships for 2005, to be held in Quebec, and thus from that point had no involvement in the WSM contest. From this point, IFSA continued to organize the annual IFSA World Strongman Championships and a series of Grand Prix events throughout the year. Between 2005 and 2007 IFSA had their own version of other major events such as a rival IFSA version of Europe's Strongest Man, known as Europe's Strongest Man (IFSA).

Thus, the world of strength athletics became fragmented, with a number of individuals being able to lay claim to be the strongest in the world by virtue of having won mutually exclusive events. Athletes affiliated to IFSA Strongman were not allowed to compete in the World's Strongest Man ("WSM"), which is produced by TWI and thus neither WSM and its associated Strongman Super Series nor the IFSA circuit could claim to have a comprehensive field of the top athletes. Some events did exist that bridged the divide between the major organizations, such as the Arnold Strongman Classic and Fortissimus.

Dissolution of IFSA/birth of SCL

After the 2007 IFSA World Championships in South Korea, news began to circulate of athletes not being paid, and equipment shipping costs not being honored.[5] IFSA eventually ended up owing $63,000[5] for shipping their equipment from England to South Korea and finally to Philadelphia. When the money was not paid, the equipment was put up for sale and was eventually purchased by other strongman contest promoters.[6] The 2007 IFSA World Championships would be the final contest ran solely by and under the banner of IFSA.

In 2008 IFSA executives Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert developed the Strongman Champions League and negotiated with IFSA to use its athletes. However, the dissolution of IFSA meant that since the end of 2007, the Strongman Champions League still operated independent of IFSA. Gradually, the last vestiges of IFSA influence began to diminish which led to the breaking down of barriers between the various concurrent circuits. Strength athletes were able to compete in more than one circuit and did so, with a cross over of athletes between the Giants Live circuit, the Strongman Champions League and the Strongman Super Series being apparent. The 2009 World's Strongest Man was therefore anticipated by the strength athletics world as promising to be "the best one yet"[7] because the organisers could ensure invites were made to "every top athlete in the world" regardless of their affiliation to any particular strength athletics body.

IFSA Strongman World Championships

IFSA Strongman World Championships
2007
Tournament information
Location Various international locations
Established 2005
Final year 2007
Format Multi-event competition
Purse varies
Final champion
Ukraine Vasyl Virastyuk

2005: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 25 September 2005 Quebec City, Canada Canada

Position Name Country Points
1.Zydrunas SavickasLithuania103
2.Vasyl VirastyukUkraine96
3.Mikhail KoklyaevRussia93.5
4.Andrus MurumetsEstonia86
5.Raimonds BergmanisLatvia84.5
6.Phil PfisterUnited States82.5
7.Vidas BlekaitisLithuania81.5
8.Magnus SamuelssonSweden69
9.Robert SzczepanskiPoland67
10.Travis OrtmayerUnited States64.5
11.Geoff DolanCanada54.5
12.Karl GillinghamUnited States43

2006: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 24, 25 November 2006 Reykjavik, Iceland Iceland

  • This was the first year that qualifying heats were used. There were 3 heats, with the top 4 from each heat moving on to the finals.

Heat 1

Position Name Country Points
1.Mikhail KoklyaevRussia31.5
2.Benedikt MagnussonIceland26.5
3.Saulius BrusokasLithuania23
4.Nick BestUnited States22
5.Igor PedanRussia21
6.Geoff DolanCanada19
7.Anders JohanssonSweden17
8.Tomi LottaFinland13

Heat 2

Position Name Country Points
1.Zydrunas SavickasLithuania32.5
2.Andrus MurumetsEstonia28.5
3.Oli ThompsonUnited Kingdom25
4.Vidas BlekaitisLithuania24.5
5.Steve MacDonaldUnited States23.5
6.Jarno HamsNetherlands22.5
7.Georg OgmundssonIceland11.5
8.Ettiene SmitSouth Africa11

Heat 3

Position Name Country Points
1.Robert SzczepanskiPoland30
2.Vasyl VirastyukUkraine30
3.Ervin KatonaSerbia28
4.Travis OrtmayerUnited States27.5
5.Stefan Solvi PeturssonIceland26
6.Agris KazelniksLatvia20.5
7.Janne IllikainenFinland13
8.Bernd KerschbaumerAustria3

Finals

Position Name Country Points
1.Zydrunas SavickasLithuania80.5
2.Mikhail KoklyaevRussia78.5
3.Vasyl VirastyukUkraine72
4.Vidas BlekaitisLithuania70
5.Andrus MurumetsEstonia55
6.Robert SzczepanskiPoland46.5
7.Benedikt MagnussonIceland44.5
8.Oli ThompsonUnited Kingdom43
9.Nick BestUnited States38
10.Travis OrtmayerUnited States35
11.Saulius BrusokasLithuania33.5
12.Ervin KatonaSerbia20.5

2007: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 12–15 September 2007 Geumsan, South Korea South Korea

  • The 2007 competition included 6 qualifying heats, with the top 2 from each heat moving on to the finals.

Heat 1

Position Name Country Points
1.Mikhail KoklyaevRussia19
2.Vidas BlekaitisLithuania16
3.Agris KazelniksLatvia8
4.Vladomyr MuravlovUkraine7

Heat 2

Position Name Country Points
1.Derek PoundstoneUnited States16
2.Jarno HamsNetherlands13
3.Georg OgmundssonIceland10
4.Mick HoldingUnited Kingdom10

Heat 3

Position Name Country Points
1.Andrus MurumetsEstonia14
2.Van HatfieldUnited States14
3.Nick BestUnited States13
4.Matt WanatUnited States8

Heat 4

Position Name Country Points
1.Vasyl VirastyukUkraine15
2.Tom McClureUnited States15
3.Igor PedanRussia15
4.Suck YoungSouth Korea1

Heat 5

Position Name Country Points
1.Ervin KatonaSerbia16
2.Zydrunas SavickasLithuania15
3.Ettiene SmitSouth Africa12
4.Hoygeun MinSouth Korea4

Heat 6

Position Name Country Points
1.Saulius BrusokasLithuania16
2.Robert SzczepanskiPoland15
3.Travis OrtmayerUnited States14
4.Bumsoo HanSouth Korea2

Finals

Position Name Country Points
1.Vasyl VirastyukUkraine57.5
2.Mikhail KoklyaevRussia52.5
3.Zydrunas SavickasLithuania51.5
4.Derek PoundstoneUnited States50.5
5.Andrus MurumetsEstonia46.5
6.Vidas BlekaitisLithuania41.5
7.Robert SzczepanskiPoland40
8.Van HatfieldUnited States32.5
9.Saulius BrusokasLithuania29.5
10.Tom McClureUnited States26
11.Ervin KatonaSerbia20.5
12.Jarno HamsNetherlands17.5

Grand Prix events

1995

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
World's Strongest Viking 1995Germany Heinz OlleschDenmark Flemming RasmussenIceland Torfi OlaffsonDenmark Copenhagen, Denmark
Lithuania Grand Prix 1995Wales Gary TaylorScotland Forbes CowanLithuania Stasys MeciusLithuania Lithuania
Manfred Hoeberl Classic 1995Iceland Magnus Ver MagnussonWales Gary TaylorGermany Heinz OlleschAustria Austria
Scandinavia's Strongest Man 1995Denmark Flemming Rasmussen

1996

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
World's Strongest Viking 1996Denmark Flemming RasmussenIceland Magnus Ver MagnussonIceland Torfi OlaffsonDenmark Copenhagen, Denmark
Denmark Grand Prix 1996Finland Riku KiriIceland Magnus Ver MagnussonDenmark Flemming RasmussenDenmark Denmark
Lithuania Grand Prix 1996Finland Riku KiriGermany Heinz OlleschIceland Magnus Ver MagnussonLithuania Lithuania
Scandinavia's Strongest Man 1996Denmark Flemming Rasmussen

1997

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
European Open 1997Finland Riku KiriSouth Africa Gerrit BadenhorstIceland Magnus Ver MagnussonNetherlands Netherlands
World's Strongest Viking 1997Denmark Flemming RasmussenDenmark Copenhagen, Denmark
Lithuania Grand Prix 1997Lithuania Stasys MeciusLatvia Raimonds BergmanisIceland Magnus Ver MagnussonLithuania Lithuania
Scandinavia's Strongest Man 1997Denmark Flemming Rasmussen

1998

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Faroe Grand Prix 1998 Atlantic GiantsSweden Magnus SamuelssonNorway Svend KarlsenFinland Riku KiriFaroe Islands Faroe Islands
Germany Grand Prix 1998Finland Riku KiriFinland Jouko AholaGermany Heinz OlleschGermany Germany
Helsinki Grand Prix 1998Finland Jouko AholaIceland Magnus Ver MagnussonNorway Svend KarlsenFinland Helsinki, Finland
Hungary Grand Prix 1998Finland Riku KiriDenmark Flemming RasmussenHungary László FeketeHungary Hungary
Lithuania Grand Prix 1998United Kingdom Jamie ReevesLithuania Raimunds KencivikiusSouth Africa Wayne PriceLithuania Lithuania

1999

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Viking of the North 1999Canada Hugo GirardSweden Magnus SamuelssonFinland Janne VirtanenIceland Iceland
Nordic Strongman Championships 1999Finland Matti Uppa
Faroe Grand Prix 1999 Atlantic GiantsFinland Jouko AholaSweden Magnus SamuelssonFinland Janne VirtanenFaroe Islands Faroe Islands
Czech Grand Prix 1999Sweden Magnus SamuelssonFinland Jouko AholaAmerican Samoa Joe OnosaiCzech Republic Prague
Helsinki Grand Prix 1999Finland Jouko AholaFinland Sami HeinonenFinland Janne VirtanenFinland Helsinki, Finland
Hungary Grand Prix 1999Netherlands Berend VenebergSouth Africa Gerrit BadenhorstFinland Jouko AholaHungary Hungary
Holland Grand Prix 1999South Africa Gerrit BadenhorstFinland Jouko AholaNetherlands Berend VenebergNetherlands Netherlands

2000

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Czech Grand Prix 2000Czech Republic Jan BartlNorway Svend KarlsenGermany Martin MuhrCzech Republic Prague, Czech Republic
Ireland Grand Prix 2000Sweden Magnus SamuelssonFinland Janne VirtanenNorway Svend KarlsenRepublic of Ireland Ireland
Polish Grand Prix 2000Sweden Magnus SamuelssonFinland Janne VirtanenPoland Jarek DymekPoland Poland
Helsinki Grand Prix 2000Finland Janne VirtanenSweden Magnus SamuelssonNorway Svend KarlsenFinland Helsinki, Finland
Romania Grand Prix 2000Sweden Magnus SamuelssonFinland Janne VirtanenDenmark Rene MinkfitzRomania Romania
Faroe Grand Prix 2000 Atlantic GiantsFaroe Islands Regin VagadalFinland Janne VirtanenSweden Magnus SamuelssonFaroe Islands Faroe Islands
China Grand Prix 2000 IFSA World FinalsSweden Magnus SamuelssonCanada Hugo GirardFinland Janne VirtanenChina China

2001

IFSA co-produced the Strongman Super Series events from 2001-2004 along with World Class Events (WCE)/Ulf Bengtsson.

The official logo of IFSA World Strongman Super Series from 2001 to 2004
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Holland Grand Prix 2001Netherlands Wout ZijlstraSweden Magnus SamuelssonNorway Svend KarlsenNetherlands Netherlands
Czech Grand Prix 2001[8]Canada Hugo GirardNorway Svend KarlsenSweden Magnus SamuelssonCzech Republic Prague, Czech Republic
Sweden Grand Prix 2001 2001 Super Series FinalsSweden Magnus SamuelssonCanada Hugo GirardNorway Svend KarlsenSweden Älvsjö, Stockholm
Overall placingsSweden Magnus Samuelsson (15pts)Canada Hugo Girard (13pts)Norway Svend Karlsen (13pts)

2002

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Scotland Grand Prix (World Muscle Power 2002)Norway Svend KarlsenCanada Hugo GirardFinland Janne VirtanenScotland Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Sweden Grand Prix 2002 (Hammer Strength)Canada Hugo GirardNorway Svend KarlsenLithuania Zydrunas SavickasSweden Stockholm, Sweden
Hawaii Grand Prix 2002 2002 Super Series FinalsCanada Hugo GirardLithuania Zydrunas SavickasPoland Mariusz PudzianowskiUnited States Honolulu, Hawaii
Overall placingsCanada Hugo GirardNorway Svend KarlsenLithuania Zydrunas Savickas

2003/04

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Hawaii Grand Prix 2003Poland Mariusz PudzianowskiLatvia Raimonds BergmanisLithuania Zydrunas SavickasUnited States Honolulu, Hawaii
Holland Grand Prix 2003Poland Mariusz PudzianowskiLithuania Zydrunas SavickasNetherlands Jarno HamsNetherlands Netherlands
Canada Grand Prix 2003Canada Hugo GirardPoland Mariusz PudzianowskiNorway Svend KarlsenCanada North Bay, Ontario Canada
Finland Grand Prix 2003Canada Hugo GirardPoland Mariusz PudzianowskiLatvia Raimonds BergmanisFinland Finland
2004 Arnold Strongman Classic 2003/04 Super Series FinalsLithuania Zydrunas SavickasNorway Svend KarlsenLatvia Raimonds BergmanisUnited States Columbus, Ohio
Overall placingsPoland Mariusz PudzianowskiLithuania Zydrunas SavickasLatvia Raimonds Bergmanis

2004

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
RIGA ALL STRENGTH - WORLD CUP 2004 RIGAPoland Mariusz PudzianowskiLatvia Raimonds BergmanisUkraine Vasyl VirastyukLatvia Riga Latvia
Moscow Grand PrixPoland Mariusz PudzianowskiLithuania Zydrunas SavickasUkraine Vasyl VirastyukRussia Moscow, Russia
Sweden Grand PrixSweden Magnus SamuelssonLithuania Zydrunas SavickasNorway Svend KarlsenSweden Gothenburg, Sweden
Overall placingsLithuania Zydrunas SavickasUkraine Vasyl VirastyukPoland Mariusz Pudzianowski/
Sweden Magnus Samuelsson

2005

Beginning in 2005, IFSA cut all ties with World's Strongest Man and Strongman Super Series and began hosting their own grand prix events and world championships from 2005-2007.

Name and Location Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
Latvia IFSA European Championships Riga, LatviaLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasFinland Tomi LottaEstonia Andrus Murumets
Netherlands NetherlandsFinland Tomi LottaNetherlands Jarno HamsDenmark Rene Minkwitz
Hungary HungaryLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasDenmark Rene MinkwitzSouth Africa Ettiene Smit
Russia RussiaRussia Mikhail Koklyaev
Norway IFSA Nordic Championships Kristiansand, NorwayNorway Svend KarlsenSweden Magnus SamuelssonFinland Juha-Matti Räsänen
Dubai DubaiFinland Tomi Lotta
Denmark DenmarkDenmark Rene MinkwitzUnited States Van HatfieldFinland Juha Aitilla
Brazil IFSA Pan-American Championships Sao Paulo, BrazilUnited States Phil PfisterUnited States Travis OrtmayerUnited States Karl Gillingham
Brazil IFSA World Open Sao Paulo, BrazilRussia Mikhail KoklyaevNorway Svend KarlsenPoland Robert Szczepanski
Sint Maarten IFSA World Team Championships Sint MaartenTeam Europe
Lithuania Zydrunas Savickas
Germany Heinz Ollesch
Latvia Raimonds Bergmanis
Estonia Andrus Murumets		Team Pan-America
United States Jon Andersen
United States Travis Ortmayer
United States Van Hatfield
Canada Geoff Dolan		Team World
United Kingdom Eddy Ellwood
United Kingdom Mark Felix
Russia Mikhail Koklyaev
Hungary Adam Darasz

2006

Name and Location Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
Cyprus CyprusUnited States Travis OrtmayerRussia Igor PedanLatvia Raimonds Bergmanis
Dubai DubaiLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasCanada Geoff DolanEstonia Andrus Murumets
Netherlands NetherlandsLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasUnited States Jon AndersenNetherlands Jarno Hams
Hungary HungaryRussia Mikhail KoklyaevUkraine Vasyl VirastyukUnited States Travis Ortmayer
Latvia LatviaLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasLatvia Raimonds BergmanisRussia Mikhail Koklyaev
United States Tulsa, Oklahoma World Strongman Challenge[9]Lithuania Žydrūnas SavickasUnited States Derek PoundstoneUnited States Jon Andersen
Lithuania LithuaniaLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasLithuania Vidas BlekaitisRussia Igor Pedan
Serbia SerbiaSerbia Ervin KatonaCanada Geoff DolanPoland Sebastian Wenta
Ukraine UkrainePoland Sebastian WentaRussia Igor PedanUkraine Viktor Yurcenko
Finland FinlandEstonia Andrus MurumetsPoland Robert SzczepanskiUnited States Steve MacDonald

2007

Name and Location Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
Latvia LatviaEstonia Andrus MurumetsUkraine Vasyl VirastyukLithuania Vidas Blekaitis
Lithuania LithuaniaLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasEstonia Andrus MurumetsFinland Janne Illikainen
Europe Europe's Strongest Man (IFSA)Ukraine Vasyl VirastyukEstonia Andrus MurumetsLithuania Vidas Blekaitis
Netherlands NetherlandsNetherlands Jarno HamsSouth Africa Ettiene SmitIceland Georg Ogmundsson
Bulgaria BulgariaPoland Robert SzczepanskiFinland Janne IllikainenSerbia Ervin Katona
Lithuania IFSA 2-Man Team World Championships Vilnius, LithuaniaLithuania Team Lithuania
Zydrunas Savickas
Vidas Blekaitis		Russia Team Russia
Mikhail Koklyaev
Igor Pedan		United States Team USA
Derek Poundstone
Tom McClure

Strongman Champions League

Developed by Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert, the Strongman Champions League was launched in 2008 as "a new episode in strongman". It negotiated with IFSA to use its athletes. Since the end of 2008, the Strongman Champions League still operates independently after the dissolution of IFSA:

2008

Name and Location Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Date[10]
Latvia LatviaLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasUnited States Travis OrtmayerLatvia Agris Kazelniks22 March
Serbia SerbiaLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasSerbia Ervin KatonaEstonia Andrus Murumets10 May 2008
Netherlands NetherlandsLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasEstonia Andrus MurumetsUnited States Travis Ortmayer1 June 2008
Bulgaria BulgariaEstonia Andrus MurumetsLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasSerbia Ervin Katona21 June 2008
Lithuania LithuaniaLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasLithuania Vidas BlekaitisLithuania Saulius Brusokas2 August 2008
Romania RomaniaLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasSerbia Ervin KatonaUkraine Oleksandr Lashyn16 August 2008
Finland FinlandRussia Mikhail KoklyaevLithuania Žydrūnas SavickasSerbia Ervin Katona29 August 2008
Overall placings[11]Lithuania Žydrūnas SavickasSerbia Ervin KatonaLatvia Agris Kazelniks

Events were planned in the following locations but cancelled: Dubai, Germany and Hungary

UK Regional Competitions

British Championships (IFSA)

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
2005England Mark FelixEngland Oli ThompsonEngland Andrew "Stumpy" Raynes

UK Championship (IFSA)

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
1997Scotland Stuart MurrayEngland Steve BrooksEngland Russ Bradley
1999Northern Ireland Glenn Ross TBC TBC

IFSA England's Strongest Man

Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
2005England Eddy EllwoodEngland Mark FelixEngland Oli Thompson

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.