Magnús Ver Magnússon (born 23 April 1963) is an Icelandic former powerlifter and strongman competitor. He is a four-time World's Strongest Man, 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 400 kg (882 lb) squat, 275 kg (606 lb)

bench press The bench press or chest press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench. The bench press is a Compound movements, compound movement, with the primary muscles involved ...

, 370.5 kg (817 lb)

deadlift The deadlift is a strength training exercise in which a weight-loaded barbell is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, with the torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting ...

, and a total of 1015.5 kg (2239 lb) all with single ply equipment.

Strongman

Magnús competed in his first strongman contest in 1985, finishing third in the Iceland's Strongest Man competition won by Jón Páll Sigmarsson. He decided to focus solely on strongman competition after he won the 1991 World's Strongest Man contest. His strongman victories include the 1989 Pure Strength team contest in Scotland with Hjalti Árnason, 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, 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 seven times and the West coast Viking (Vestfjarðavíkingurinn) of Iceland nine times. 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, in 1995. After Magnus squatted 437.5 kg in a smith machine setup, 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 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's '' The Daily Show''. He also appeared in a Coors Light 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 called Jakaból (Nest of Giants). Magnús is the founder of the Magnús Ver Magnússon Strongman Classic, a strongman competition held in

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

that qualifies the winner for the World's Strongest Man. Magnús has 2 daughters and a grandson. More recently he has launched the Magnús Ver Magnússon Adaptive Strength World Championships where adaptive athletes registered for the World Strength Games are automatically registered to compete. Magnús is also a brand ambassador o
HEMPE
pain gels which he says help him to recover faster after training.

Personal records

''Strongman'' *Smith machine Squat ''(partial lift not to parallel depth)'' – (1995 World's Strongest Man) *Flintstone

Deadlift The deadlift is a strength training exercise in which a weight-loaded barbell is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, with the torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting ...

– (1996 World's Strongest Man) *Silver Dollar

''(18" off the floor)'' – (1994 World's Strongest Man) *Log press – (1995 Strongest Man on Earth) * Flintstone barbell push press (behind the neck) – (1995 World's Strongest Man) * Atlas stones – 5 stones weighing on distant platforms ''(no tacky)'' in 29.00 seconds (1994 World's Strongest Man) (World Record) * Natural stone lift to platform – 4 Rocks ranging from in 17.30 seconds (1992 World Strongman Challenge) (World Record) * Natural Stone press – (2005 IFSA Holland Grand Prix) :→ ''Magnús Ver held the world record when he pressed a stone at 1992 World's Strongest Man. '' * Weight over bar – over (1993 World Viking Challenge) * Arm over arm vertical lift (chest hoist) – 4m height in 3.30 seconds (1998 Europe's Strongest Man) (World Record) * Arm over arm plane pull – 20m course in 34.34 seconds (1992 World's Strongest Man) (World Record) ''Powerlifting'' * Squat (Equipped/ single-ply) – (1991 Íslandsmeistaramót í kraftlyftingum) *

Bench press The bench press or chest press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench. The bench press is a Compound movements, compound movement, with the primary muscles involved ...

(Equipped/ single-ply) – (2004 Íslandsmeistaramót í kraftlyftingum) *

(Raw) – (2010 Úrslit Íslandsmót) *

(Equipped/ single-ply) – (1991 Íslandsmeistaramót í kraftlyftingum) *

(Raw) – (2015 Fógetamótið) *Total (Equipped/ single-ply) – (1991 Íslandsmeistaramót í kraftlyftingum)

References

External links

*
Magnús's Coors Light commercial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnússon, Magnús Ver 1963 births Magnús Ver Magnússon Living people Magnús Ver Magnússonson Magnús Ver Magnússon Magnús Ver Magnússon 20th-century Icelandic sportsmen