| Grant Edwards | |
|---|---|
| Born | Australia |
| Occupation | Strongman |
| Competition record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Strongman | |||
| Competitor for Australia | |||
| World's Strongest Man | |||
| Qualified | 1999 | ||
| Australia's Strongest Man | |||
| 1st | 1999 | ||
Commander Grant Edwards is a high ranking Australian law enforcement officer and former strongman competitor and entrant to the World's Strongest Man competition.
Grant Edwards competed on the international circuit prior to his 1999 triumph in Australia's Strongest Man.[1] He was well known for displays of strength and in the greatest feats of strength section of the 2001 edition of Guiness Book of Records, Grant Edwards was picked out for special mention for his feat of single-handedly pulling a 198-ton train a distance of 120 ft. 9 in. along a railroad track at Thirlmere, NSW, Australia, on 4 April 1996.[2] The 1999 win in Australia's Strongest Man led to an invitation to the prestigious World's Strongest Man in 1999. Drawn in the same group as Magnus Samuelsson, Edwards was directly matched up against the Swede in the log lift, losing 10 lifts to 2. Magnus won the group and Edwards failed to progress to the final.
Edwards was also a Highland Games competitor. One of his notable achievements was winning the Scottish heavy throws contest at the 1997 Rosneath and Clynder Highland Games. He totalled 30 points to defeat Robert McKee (USA) and Ivo Degelling (Holland) who finished second equal with 27 points.[3]
Outside of his strongman career, Edwards pursued a career within the Australian police. He joined the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in 1985 and worked in Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra and Los Angeles covering such areas as family law, international drug trafficking and people smuggling.[4] He established the AFP's Transnational Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Team[5] in 2003, which addresses crimes of transnational sexual exploitation and travelling child sex offenders. From here he took the position of Chair of the Interpol Expert working Group on trafficking in Women and Children, becoming an international expert in this field. He went on to work as the National Surveillance Coordinator, Coordinator of Transnational Crime Intelligence and in 2006 gained promotion to Commander, in his capacity as Manager Criminal Intelligence Collection.[4] In January 2008 Commander Edwards was posted to Timor-Leste as Security Advisor to the Secretary of State for Security within the Government of Timor Leste. His work within this role was praised by the Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O'Connor who echoed and endorsed comments made by the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste His Excellency Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão. O'Connor said "Praise from the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste His Excellency Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão today, is testament to Commander Edwards’ professionalism and the dedication that he has brought to the role. His efforts have gone a long way to strengthening relationships between Australia and Timor-Leste".[6]
| Preceded by Bill Lyndon |
Australia's Strongest Man 1999 |
Succeeded by Derek Boyer |