International Federation of Strength Athletes

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]

International Federation of Strength Athletes
TypeSports federation
HeadquartersGlasgow, Scotland
Official language
English
Managing Director
Christian Fennell

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 run 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
LocationVarious international locations
Established2005
Final year2007
FormatMulti-event competition
Pursevaries
Final champion
Vasyl Virastyuk

2005: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 25 September 2005 Quebec City, Canada

Position Name Country Points
1.Zydrunas Savickas103
2.Vasyl Virastyuk96
3.Mikhail Koklyaev93.5
4.Andrus Murumets86
5.Raimonds Bergmanis84.5
6.Phil Pfister82.5
7.Vidas Blekaitis81.5
8.Magnus Samuelsson69
9.Robert Szczepanski67
10.Travis Ortmayer64.5
11.Geoff Dolan54.5
12.Karl Gillingham43

2006: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 24, 25 November 2006 Reykjavik, 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 Koklyaev31.5
2.Benedikt Magnusson26.5
3.Saulius Brusokas23
4.Nick Best22
5.Igor Pedan21
6.Geoff Dolan19
7.Anders Johansson17
8.Tomi Lotta13

Heat 2
Position Name Country Points
1.Zydrunas Savickas32.5
2.Andrus Murumets28.5
3.Oli Thompson25
4.Vidas Blekaitis24.5
5.Steve MacDonald23.5
6.Jarno Hams22.5
7.Georg Ogmundsson11.5
8.Ettiene Smit11

Heat 3
Position Name Country Points
1.Robert Szczepanski30
2.Vasyl Virastyuk30
3.Ervin Katona28
4.Travis Ortmayer27.5
5.Stefan Solvi Petursson26
6.Agris Kazelniks20.5
7.Janne Illikainen13
8.Bernd Kerschbaumer3

Finals
Position Name Country Points
1.Zydrunas Savickas80.5
2.Mikhail Koklyaev78.5
3.Vasyl Virastyuk72
4.Vidas Blekaitis70
5.Andrus Murumets55
6.Robert Szczepanski46.5
7.Benedikt Magnusson44.5
8.Oli Thompson43
9.Nick Best38
10.Travis Ortmayer35
11.Saulius Brusokas33.5
12.Ervin Katona20.5

2007: IFSA Strongman World Championships

Dates: 12–15 September 2007 Geumsan, 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 Koklyaev19
2.Vidas Blekaitis16
3.Agris Kazelniks8
4.Vladomyr Muravlov7

Heat 2
Position Name Country Points
1.Derek Poundstone16
2.Jarno Hams13
3.Georg Ogmundsson10
4.Mick Holding10

Heat 3
Position Name Country Points
1.Andrus Murumets14
2.Van Hatfield14
3.Nick Best13
4.Matt Wanat8

Heat 4
Position Name Country Points
1.Vasyl Virastyuk15
2.Tom McClure15
3.Igor Pedan15
4.Suck Young1

Heat 5
Position Name Country Points
1.Ervin Katona16
2.Zydrunas Savickas15
3.Ettiene Smit12
4.Hoygeun Min4

Heat 6
Position Name Country Points
1.Saulius Brusokas16
2.Robert Szczepanski15
3.Travis Ortmayer14
4.Bumsoo Han2

Finals
Position Name Country Points
1.Vasyl Virastyuk57.5
2.Mikhail Koklyaev52.5
3.Zydrunas Savickas51.5
4.Derek Poundstone50.5
5.Andrus Murumets46.5
6.Vidas Blekaitis41.5
7.Robert Szczepanski40
8.Van Hatfield32.5
9.Saulius Brusokas29.5
10.Tom McClure26
11.Ervin Katona20.5
12.Jarno Hams17.5

Grand Prix events

1995
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
World's Strongest Viking 1995 Heinz Ollesch Flemming Rasmussen Torfi Olaffson Copenhagen, Denmark
Lithuania Grand Prix 1995 Gary Taylor Forbes Cowan Stasys Mecius Lithuania
Manfred Hoeberl Classic 1995 Magnus Ver Magnusson Gary Taylor Heinz Ollesch Austria
Scandinavia's Strongest Man 1995 Flemming Rasmussen

1996
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
World's Strongest Viking 1996 Flemming Rasmussen Magnus Ver Magnusson Torfi Olaffson Copenhagen, Denmark
Denmark Grand Prix 1996 Riku Kiri Magnus Ver Magnusson Flemming Rasmussen Denmark
Lithuania Grand Prix 1996 Riku Kiri Heinz Ollesch Magnus Ver Magnusson Lithuania
Scandinavia's Strongest Man 1996 Flemming Rasmussen

1997
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
European Open 1997 Riku Kiri Gerrit Badenhorst Magnus Ver Magnusson Netherlands
World's Strongest Viking 1997 Flemming Rasmussen Copenhagen, Denmark
Lithuania Grand Prix 1997 Stasys Mecius Raimonds Bergmanis Magnus Ver Magnusson Lithuania
Scandinavia's Strongest Man 1997 Flemming Rasmussen

1998
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Faroe Grand Prix 1998 Atlantic Giants Magnus Samuelsson Svend Karlsen Riku Kiri Faroe Islands
Germany Grand Prix 1998 Riku Kiri Jouko Ahola Heinz Ollesch Germany
Helsinki Grand Prix 1998 Jouko Ahola Magnus Ver Magnusson Svend Karlsen Helsinki, Finland
Hungary Grand Prix 1998 Riku Kiri Flemming Rasmussen László Fekete Hungary
Lithuania Grand Prix 1998 Jamie Reeves Raimunds Kencivikius Wayne Price Lithuania

1999
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Viking of the North 1999 Hugo Girard Magnus Samuelsson Janne Virtanen Iceland
Nordic Strongman Championships 1999 Matti Uppa
Faroe Grand Prix 1999 Atlantic Giants Jouko Ahola Magnus Samuelsson Janne Virtanen Faroe Islands
Czech Grand Prix 1999 Magnus Samuelsson Jouko Ahola Joe Onosai Prague
Helsinki Grand Prix 1999 Jouko Ahola Sami Heinonen Janne Virtanen Helsinki, Finland
Hungary Grand Prix 1999 Berend Veneberg Gerrit Badenhorst Jouko Ahola Hungary
Holland Grand Prix 1999 Gerrit Badenhorst Jouko Ahola Berend Veneberg Netherlands

2000
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Czech Grand Prix 2000 Jan Bartl Svend Karlsen Martin Muhr Prague, Czech Republic
Ireland Grand Prix 2000 Magnus Samuelsson Janne Virtanen Svend Karlsen Ireland
Polish Grand Prix 2000 Magnus Samuelsson Janne Virtanen Jarek Dymek Poland
Helsinki Grand Prix 2000 Janne Virtanen Magnus Samuelsson Svend Karlsen Helsinki, Finland
Romania Grand Prix 2000 Magnus Samuelsson Janne Virtanen Rene Minkfitz Romania
Faroe Grand Prix 2000 Atlantic Giants Regin Vagadal Janne Virtanen Magnus Samuelsson Faroe Islands
China Grand Prix 2000 IFSA World Finals Magnus Samuelsson Hugo Girard Janne Virtanen China

2001
Main article: Strongman Super Series

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 2001 Wout Zijlstra Magnus Samuelsson Svend Karlsen Netherlands
Czech Grand Prix 2001[8] Hugo Girard Svend Karlsen Magnus Samuelsson Prague, Czech Republic
Sweden Grand Prix 2001 2001 Super Series Finals Magnus Samuelsson Hugo Girard Svend Karlsen Älvsjö, Stockholm
Overall placings Magnus Samuelsson (15pts) Hugo Girard (13pts) Svend Karlsen (13pts)

2002
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Scotland Grand Prix (World Muscle Power 2002) Svend Karlsen Hugo Girard Janne Virtanen Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Sweden Grand Prix 2002 (Hammer Strength) Hugo Girard Svend Karlsen Zydrunas Savickas Stockholm, Sweden
Hawaii Grand Prix 2002 2002 Super Series Finals Hugo Girard Zydrunas Savickas Mariusz Pudzianowski Honolulu, Hawaii
Overall placings Hugo Girard Svend Karlsen Zydrunas Savickas

2003/04
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
Hawaii Grand Prix 2003 Mariusz Pudzianowski Raimonds Bergmanis Zydrunas Savickas Honolulu, Hawaii
Holland Grand Prix 2003 Mariusz Pudzianowski Zydrunas Savickas Jarno Hams Netherlands
Canada Grand Prix 2003 Hugo Girard Mariusz Pudzianowski Svend Karlsen North Bay, Ontario Canada
Finland Grand Prix 2003 Hugo Girard Mariusz Pudzianowski Raimonds Bergmanis Finland
2004 Arnold Strongman Classic 2003/04 Super Series Finals Zydrunas Savickas Svend Karlsen Raimonds Bergmanis Columbus, Ohio
Overall placings Mariusz Pudzianowski Zydrunas Savickas Raimonds Bergmanis

2004
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place Location
RIGA ALL STRENGTH - WORLD CUP 2004 RIGA Mariusz Pudzianowski Raimonds Bergmanis Vasyl Virastyuk Riga Latvia
Moscow Grand Prix Mariusz Pudzianowski Zydrunas Savickas Vasyl Virastyuk Moscow, Russia
Sweden Grand Prix Magnus Samuelsson Zydrunas Savickas Svend Karlsen Gothenburg, Sweden
Overall placings Zydrunas Savickas Vasyl Virastyuk Mariusz Pudzianowski/
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
IFSA European Championships Riga, Latvia Žydrūnas Savickas Tomi Lotta Andrus Murumets
Netherlands Tomi Lotta Jarno Hams Rene Minkwitz
Hungary Žydrūnas Savickas Rene Minkwitz Ettiene Smit
Russia Mikhail Koklyaev
IFSA Nordic Championships Kristiansand, Norway Svend Karlsen Magnus Samuelsson Juha-Matti Räsänen
Dubai Tomi Lotta
Denmark Rene Minkwitz Van Hatfield Juha Aitilla
IFSA Pan-American Championships Sao Paulo, Brazil Phil Pfister Travis Ortmayer Karl Gillingham
IFSA World Open Sao Paulo, Brazil Mikhail Koklyaev Svend Karlsen Robert Szczepanski
IFSA World Team Championships Sint MaartenTeam Europe
Zydrunas Savickas
Heinz Ollesch
Raimonds Bergmanis
Andrus Murumets		Team Pan-America
Jon Andersen
Travis Ortmayer
Van Hatfield
Geoff Dolan		Team World
Eddy Ellwood
Mark Felix
Mikhail Koklyaev
Adam Darasz

2006
Name and Location Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
Cyprus Travis Ortmayer Igor Pedan Raimonds Bergmanis
Dubai Žydrūnas Savickas Geoff Dolan Andrus Murumets
Netherlands Žydrūnas Savickas Jon Andersen Jarno Hams
Hungary Mikhail Koklyaev Vasyl Virastyuk Travis Ortmayer
Latvia Žydrūnas Savickas Raimonds Bergmanis Mikhail Koklyaev
Tulsa, Oklahoma World Strongman Challenge[9] Žydrūnas Savickas Derek Poundstone Jon Andersen
Lithuania Žydrūnas Savickas Vidas Blekaitis Igor Pedan
Serbia Ervin Katona Geoff Dolan Sebastian Wenta
Ukraine Sebastian Wenta Igor Pedan Viktor Yurcenko
Finland Andrus Murumets Robert Szczepanski Steve MacDonald

2007
Name and Location Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
Latvia Andrus Murumets Vasyl Virastyuk Vidas Blekaitis
Lithuania Žydrūnas Savickas Andrus Murumets Janne Illikainen
Europe's Strongest Man (IFSA) Vasyl Virastyuk Andrus Murumets Vidas Blekaitis
Netherlands Jarno Hams Ettiene Smit Georg Ogmundsson
Bulgaria Robert Szczepanski Janne Illikainen Ervin Katona
IFSA 2-Man Team World Championships Vilnius, Lithuania Team Lithuania
Zydrunas Savickas
Vidas Blekaitis		 Team Russia
Mikhail Koklyaev
Igor Pedan		 Team USA
Derek Poundstone
Tom McClure

Strongman Champions League
Main article: 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 Žydrūnas Savickas Travis Ortmayer Agris Kazelniks22 March
Serbia Žydrūnas Savickas Ervin Katona Andrus Murumets10 May 2008
Netherlands Žydrūnas Savickas Andrus Murumets Travis Ortmayer1 June 2008
Bulgaria Andrus Murumets Žydrūnas Savickas Ervin Katona21 June 2008
Lithuania Žydrūnas Savickas Vidas Blekaitis Saulius Brusokas2 August 2008
Romania Žydrūnas Savickas Ervin Katona Oleksandr Lashyn16 August 2008
Finland Mikhail Koklyaev Žydrūnas Savickas Ervin Katona29 August 2008
Overall placings[11] Žydrūnas Savickas Ervin Katona 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
2005 Mark Felix Oli Thompson Andrew "Stumpy" Raynes

UK Championship (IFSA)
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
1997 Stuart Murray Steve Brooks Russ Bradley
1999 Glenn Ross TBC TBC

IFSA England's Strongest Man
Year Champion Runner-Up 3rd Place
2005 Eddy Ellwood Mark Felix Oli Thompson
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See also

References
  1. "Official site - history". Archived from the original on 2008-09-21. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  2. The Herald Scotland Bring on the war games DOUG GILLON, Athletics Correspondent, 19 May 2007
  3. IFSA, WCE, TWI, WSM, ESPN: Who's On First and How Do I Get To World's Strongest Man?, by Randall J. Strossen, IronMind, Thursday, February 10, 2005
  4. Magnus Samelsson Official website
  5. http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2008/Mar/IFSA_Going_Going___.html
  6. http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2008/Feb/For_Sale__IFSA_Strongman_Equipment____Strongman_Worlds_in_a_Box.html
  7. World’s Strongest Man 2009: More on the Competitors, Ironmind, Thursday, August 6, 2009 , by Randall J. Strossen
  8. Girard Wins IFSA Prague Super Series by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. | ©2008 IronMind
  9. http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2006/May/Savickas_Wins_IFSA_USA_Grand_Prix.html
  10. IFSA Strongman Champions League Archived 2009-12-15 at the Wayback Machine
  11. "Official site of Strongman Champions League". Archived from the original on 2015-02-04. Retrieved 2009-08-22.
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