Mariusz Pudzianowski

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Mariusz Pudzianowski

Born Mariusz Pudzianowski
February 7, 1977 (1977-02-07) (age 31)
Flag of Poland Biała Rawska, Poland
Residence Poland
Other names Pudzian
Occupation Strongman, Actor, Singer
Title World's Strongest Man
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight 310 pounds (141 kg)
Religious beliefs Roman Catholic
Website
http://www.pudzian.pl (Polish)

Mariusz Pudzianowski (pronounced [ˈmarjuʃ pudʑaˈnɔfski]) (born on February 7, 1977 in Biała Rawska, Poland) is a leading strongman competitor. He is sometimes known by the nicknames Pudzian, Dominator, Super Mariusz (Super Mario), Pyton (Python) and Duży Pyton (Big Python).

Contents

[edit] Strongman career

Mariusz began training for strength sports at age 13½, in December, 1990. Mariusz cites his key strength supplement as malted milk. "I met a kid, he was 12 years old," he said in an interview. "I could not lift him, then he tried to, and he lifted me up 6 inches in the air. He was strong." This motivated him to work out and become the world's strongest man.

On May 1, 1999 Mariusz entered his first Strongman competition, which was held in Płock, Poland. He achieved his first major success at the international level in 2000 when he finished fourth in his first World's Strongest Man competition. He returned to win the WSM contest in 2002, and retained his title in 2003 by the largest margin ever achieved in the competition. In March, 2004 he also became the Strongman Super Series World Champion. He initially finished third in the WSM contest in 2004, but was later disqualified after testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance. He was forced to return his prize money, stripped of the International Federation of Strength Athletes points from the event, and received a one-year ban from competition. Pudzianowski did not dispute his banned substance violation and waived his right to have his stool sample verified. He then returned to win the title for a third time in 2005.

In the 2006 World's Strongest Man contest, he came second to the American Phil Pfister, the first American to win the championship since Bill Kazmeier in 1982. Pudzianowski had led for most of the competition, however Pfister won the last five events to narrowly clinch the title. In the final event, the Atlas Stones, the two went head-to-head; Pfister managed all five, whilst Mariusz failed to complete the final stone.

Pudzianowski regained his title in 2007, winning with one event to spare (which he had also done in 2003 and 2005). He joins Jón Páll Sigmarsson and Magnús Ver Magnússon as the only four-time winners. In the WSM 2007 competition he said that his target is to win once more to become the only person to win the event 5 times.

Apart from WSM Mariusz is also known for practicing martial arts (he is a fourth degree black belt in Kyokushin karate). Moreover he was a professional boxer for 7 years before he started to compete in strongman competitions.

[edit] Personal bests

[edit] Achievements

Professional Competitive Record - [1st (36),2nd (6) ,3rd (3) - Out of Total(50)]
Performance Metric - .970 [Polish - 1.000 International - .954]

Professional 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th INJ DNQ Total
Polish 14 14
International 22 6 3 2 2 1 35
Combined 36 6 3 2 2 1 50

COMPLETED CONTESTS

  • Flag of Poland Poland vs. The World - Poland - winner (2008)
  • Flag of the United States Mohegan Sun Super Series - Uncasville, Connecticut, USA - 2nd place (1/19/2008)
  • Flag of the United States World's Strongest Man - Anaheim, California, USA - winner (2007)
  • Flag of Norway Svend Karlsens Viking Power Super Series Grand Prix - Norway - winner (2007)
  • Flag of the United States Venice Beach Super Series Grand Prix - Venice Beach, California, USA - 2nd place (2007)
  • Flag of the United States Mohegan Sun Super Series Grand Prix - Uncasville, Connecticut, USA - winner (2007)
  • Flag of Latvia World Strongman Cup Grand Prix - England - winner (2007)
  • Flag of Latvia World Strongman Cup Grand Prix - Latvia - winner (2007)
  • Flag of the People's Republic of China World's Strongest Man - Sanya, China - 2nd place (2006)
  • Flag of Poland Poland Super Series Grand Prix - Poland - winner (2006)
  • Flag of Russia Moscow Super Series Grand Prix - Moscow, Russia - winner (2006)
  • Flag of the United States Mohegan Sun Super Series Grand Prix - Uncasville, Connecticut, USA - winner (2006)
  • Flag of Russia World Strongman Cup Grand Prix - Russia - winner (2006)
  • Flag of Poland World Strongman Cup Grand Prix - Poland - winner (2006)
  • Flag of Latvia World Strongman Cup Grand Prix - Latvia - winner (2006)
  • Flag of Belgium World Strongman Cup Grand Prix - Belarus - winner (2006)
  • Flag of the United States Arnold's Strongest Man - Columbus, Ohio, USA - 6th place (2005)
  • Flag of the People's Republic of China World's Strongest Man - Chengdu, China - winner (2005)
  • Flag of Poland Poland vs. The World - Poland - winner (2005)
  • Flag of the United States Mohegan Sun Super Series Grand Prix - Uncasville, Connecticut, USA - winner (2005)
  • Flag of Sweden Sweden Super Series Grand Prix - Sweden - winner (2005)
  • Flag of Poland Poland Super Series Grand Prix - Poland - winner (2005)
  • Flag of the United States Venice Beach Super Series Grand Prix - Venice Beach, California, USA - winner (2005)
  • Flag of Australia World Strongman Cup Grand Prix - Austria - winner (2005)
  • Flag of the United States Arnold's Strongest Man - Columbus, Ohio, USA - 4th place (2004)
  • Flag of the Bahamas World's Strongest Man - Nassau, Paradise Island, The Bahamas - disqualified {originally 3rd place} (2004)
  • Flag of Poland European Championship - Jelenia Gora, Poland - winner (2004)
  • Flag of Poland World Team Championship - Plock, Poland - winner (2004)
  • Flag of Russia Moscow Super Series Grand Prix - Moscow, Russia - winner (2004)
  • Flag of Poland Polish Cup - Poland - winner (2004)
  • Flag of Zambia World's Strongest Man - Victoria Falls, Zambia - winner (2003)
  • Flag of Poland European Championship - Sandomierz, Poland - winner (2003)
  • Flag of Hungary World Team Championship - Hungary - winner (2003)
  • Flag of Poland World Record Breakers - Gdynia, Poland - winner (2003)
  • Flag of Poland Polish Cup - Poland - winner (2003)
  • Flag of the United States Arnold's Strongest Man - Columbus, Ohio, USA - 5th place (2003)
  • Flag of Finland Finland Super Series Grand Prix - Finland - 2nd place (2003)
  • Flag of Canada Canada Super Series Grand Prix - Canada - 2nd place (2003)
  • Flag of South Holland Holland Super Series Grand Prix - Holland - winner (2003)
  • Flag of the United States Hawaii Super Series Grand Prix - Hawaii, USA - winner (2003)
  • Flag of Malaysia World's Strongest Man - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - winner (2002)
  • Flag of the United States Hawaii Super Series Grand Prix - Hawaii, USA - 3rd place (2002)
  • Flag of Sweden Sweden Super Series Grand Prix - Sweden - 5th place (2002)
  • Flag of Poland European Championship - Gdynia, Poland - winner (2002)
  • Flag of Ireland World's Giants - Ireland - winner (2002)
  • Flag of South Africa World's Strongest Man - Sun City, South Africa - 4th place (2000)
  • Flag of Hungary World Team Championship - Hungary - 2nd place (2000)
  • Flag of Poland World Cup Grand Prix - Poland - winner (2000)
  • Flag of the People's Republic of China World Team Championship - China - 3rd place (1999)
  • Flag of Poland Polish Cup - Poland - winner (1999)

[edit] Musical career

In 2005, Mariusz formed a musical group called Pudzian Band, with himself as a singer. In 2006 the Pudzian band toured for the first time, and they recorded the song "Zdobyć świat". The other members of the group are Krystian Pudzianowski (Mariusz's brother), Anna Brzozowska and Ross Tweedy on tambourine.

[edit] External links

World's Strongest Man
Preceded by:
Svend Karlsen
First (2002) Succeeded by:
Himself
Preceded by:
Himself
Second (2003) Succeeded by:
Vasyl Virastyuk
Preceded by:
Vasyl Virastyuk
Third (2005) Succeeded by:
Phil Pfister
Preceded by:
Phil Pfister
Fourth (2007) Succeeded by:
Incumbent