Hugo Girard

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Hugo Girard (born December 20, 1971) in Saint-Anne-de-Portneuf, Quebec) is a Canadian strongman. Girard is a one-time World Champion and a five-time Canada's Strongest Man.

[edit] Background

Girard started lifting weights at the age of 5. At age 12, he stated to his mother that he wanted to become the World's strongest man. His father was also participating in strongmen competition. Prior to his career as a strongman competitor, Girard worked as a bouncer in a popular Quebec City nightclub on weekends while he was studying police science in community college. In the early 1990s, he went to Los Angeles in order to either pursue a career as a professional bodybuilder or as an actor. After a few months, Girard came back to the province of Quebec where he was later hired as a police officer for the city of Gatineau.

Girard burst into the world's strongmen stage in the mid 90s. He became a finalist for the World's Strongest Man competition starting in 1998. However he has never won the title of World's Strongest Man.

In 2002-2003, Girard reached the high point of his career to date, winning the year's Strongman Super Series. The events were held in Morocco, Zambia and Malaysia He became World Champion but lost the title the following year to his Polish rival and four-time World's Strongest Man, Mariusz Pudzianowski.

Girard dominated strongman competition in Canada for several years. He was the Canadian Champion from 1999 to 2003. He was also the North American champion in 2001 and 2002. Over the past few years, injuries plagued his career including a serious foot injury in 2004 that required a long period of rehabilitation. That forced him to miss several major world events in 2005 and 2006. Girard is slowly getting back into the heat of competition while training several times a week. He attempted to compete in the North American Strongmen Competition in 2007 but withdrew because of an injury.

Girard broke several records, some of which are still standing today. He held records in events such as the crucifix hold, farmer's walk Atlas stones, bench press, truck pull and squat. He has also pulled an 80-ton Boeing 737 for a short distance.

Due to his strength, Girard is often compared to fellow Quebecer Louis Cyr, a dominant nineteenth-century strongman. Girard has also trained several other strongmen in the Ottawa and Gatineau regions, including Jessen Paulin, who has participated in the World's Strongest Man competition and succeeded Girard as Canadian Champion in 2005 and 2006.

Girard is currently a member of the organization of the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival that takes place every Labour Day weekend. He is also the current president of the Canadian Federation of Strength Athletes. In addition to his career as a strongman, Girard serves as a police officer.