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IFSA WSM
Topic Started: Sep 24 2006, 04:18 PM (1,934 Views)
Technik
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Competitors:

Zydrunas Savickas - Lithuania
Michail Kokylaev - Russia
Vasyl Virastyuk - Ukraine
Andrus Muramets - Estonia
Saulius Brusaukas - Lithuania
Travis Ortmayer - USA
Igor Pedan - Russia
Vidas Blekaitas- Lithuania
Robert Szczepanski - Poland
Ervin Katona - Serbia
Jani Ilikainen - Finland
Derek Poundstone- USA
Geoff Dolan - Canada
Georg Ögmundsson - Iceland
Tomi Lotta - Finland
Jarno Hams - Holland
Oli Thompson - Great Britain
Benidikt Magnússon - Iceland
Etienne Smit - South Africa
Anders Johanson - Sweden
Steve MacDonald - USA
Agris Kazelniks - Latvia
Bernd Kershbaumer - Austria
Stefán Solvi Pétursson - Iceland

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Neil

No Bergmanis, Rasenan, Ollesch or Minkwitz.
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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
Bergmanis was pretty much "winding down" this year I think, coming towards the end of his career. I seem to remember someone told me at the Arnold that this was going to be his last year.

I think Ollesch is injured?

Not sure about the others.

How many from the former Soviet states in the final do you recon? I can see there being 6-7 depending on how the groups are drawn.

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Olly Jackson
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Technik
Oct 20 2006, 07:48 AM
Competitors:

Zydrunas Savickas - Lithuania
Michail Kokylaev - Russia
Vasyl Virastyuk - Ukraine
Andrus Muramets - Estonia
Saulius Brusaukas - Lithuania
Travis Ortmayer - USA
Igor Pedan - Russia
Vidas Blekaitas- Lithuania
Robert Szczepanski - Poland
Ervin Katona - Serbia
Jani Ilikainen - Finland
Derek Poundstone- USA
Geoff Dolan - Canada
Georg Ögmundsson - Iceland
Tomi Lotta - Finland
Jarno Hams - Holland
Oli Thompson - Great Britain
Benidikt Magnússon - Iceland
Etienne Smit - South Africa
Anders Johanson - Sweden
Steve MacDonald - USA
Agris Kazelniks - Latvia
Bernd Kershbaumer - Austria
Stefán Solvi Pétursson - Iceland

Anyone got any idea how they chose the athetes for this?

I find it funny that there are 3 Lithuanians, 3 Icelanders and 2 Fins, yet only 1 Brit.

Then I remember that there is no Brit at the European 105s, that there couldnt have been because IFSA had no 105kg championship in Britain.

IFSA are a bunch of cunts.
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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
3 Icelanders as Iceland is the host nation. (and Iceland have produced one or two decent strongmen down the years... ;) )

3 Lithuanians as all three are very good strongmen.

2 Fins, both sucessful strongmen.

1 Brit, because in all honesty there is only 1 British IFSA athlete who is good enough to compete at that level. Apart from Oli, who else should be there? Terry is with TWI, so is Darren Saddler and Mark Felix. Eddie Ellwood has not competed much the last couple of years, Glenn Ross won't compete for IFSA.....

Ask yourself - if IFSA gave the UK two spots this year, who would the other guy be? There isn't exactly an obvious choice.
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BIGMOL

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1 Brit, because in all honesty there is only 1 British IFSA athlete who is good enough to compete at that level.  Apart from Oli, who else should be there?  Terry is with TWI, so is Darren Saddler and Mark Felix.  Eddie Ellwood has not competed much the last couple of years, Glenn Ross won't compete for IFSA.....

Ask yourself - if IFSA gave the UK two spots this year, who would the other guy be?  There isn't exactly an obvious choice.


Why wouldn't they invite Terry/Darren or Mark as there second spot?????????
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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
Darren Saddler and Mark Felix have chosen recently to leave IFSA.

Terry Hollands has not competed in an IFSA contest since january 2005, and that was only the Southern Qualifer for England's Strongest Man. So why would they invite him, at the expense of someone from another country who has been competing regularly in IFSA events?
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GrantB
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Grant is a magnificent bastard
Hmm. Interestingly enough, the guy from BC that won the IFSA "Canadian Nationals" isn't on the list.
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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
They seem to have selected athletes pretty much based on the ranking system (with 1-2 exceptions).

The best athletes IFSA have are, for the most part, there, and generally they have been picked on merit, rather than what passport they hold.
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Olly Jackson
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Llamapower
Oct 20 2006, 11:22 AM
3 Icelanders as Iceland is the host nation. (and Iceland have produced one or two decent strongmen down the years... ;) )

3 Lithuanians as all three are very good strongmen.

2 Fins, both sucessful strongmen.

1 Brit, because in all honesty there is only 1 British IFSA athlete who is good enough to compete at that level. Apart from Oli, who else should be there? Terry is with TWI, so is Darren Saddler and Mark Felix. Eddie Ellwood has not competed much the last couple of years, Glenn Ross won't compete for IFSA.....

Ask yourself - if IFSA gave the UK two spots this year, who would the other guy be? There isn't exactly an obvious choice.

Every point you make Col is good and valid, and until recently I wouldnt have even bothered voicing my opinion, but with Virastyuk seeminlgy allowed to compete at both IFSA and WSC now, it makes a mockery of the whole, 'I compete here so cant compete there argument'.

But to be fair, you're right, outside of those guys, the standard isnt huge. But I blame IFSA for not having any good Brits on their books not, the athletes. Any strongman would be mad to turn down the opportunity to compete in TWI and WSC on the off chance that they might become Dougie's flavour of the month and finally get an invite to a big event, or shock horror, they might actually get paid.

You're right about Iceland though, they have produced a few good strongmen down the years :P Although, Britian hasnt exactly been short of the odd famous strongman ;)
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Olly Jackson
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Llamapower
Oct 20 2006, 12:14 PM
Darren Saddler and Mark Felix have chosen to leave IFSA.

Terry Hollands has not competed in an IFSA contest since january 2005, and that was only the Southern Qualifer for England's Strongest Man. So why would they invite him, at the expense of someone from another country who has been competing regularly in IFSA events?

But how do you get to do these events? Invite?
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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
Technik
Oct 20 2006, 07:48 AM
Competitors:

Zydrunas Savickas - Lithuania (1)
Michail Kokylaev - Russia (2)
Vasyl Virastyuk - Ukraine (4)
Andrus Muramets - Estonia (3)
Saulius Brusaukas - Lithuania (17)
Travis Ortmayer - USA (6)
Igor Pedan - Russia (8)
Vidas Blekaitas- Lithuania (9)
Robert Szczepanski - Poland (10)
Ervin Katona - Serbia (13)
Jani Ilikainen - Finland (18)
Derek Poundstone- USA (--)
Geoff Dolan - Canada (7)
Georg Ögmundsson - Iceland (--)
Tomi Lotta - Finland (11)
Jarno Hams - Holland (12)
Oli Thompson - Great Britain (15)
Benidikt Magnússon - Iceland (16)
Etienne Smit - South Africa (19)
Anders Johanson - Sweden (20)
Steve MacDonald - USA (23)
Agris Kazelniks - Latvia (--)
Bernd Kershbaumer - Austria (26)
Stefán Solvi Pétursson - Iceland (--)

I have put the IFSA rankings in brackets next to the competitors.

All except 5 of the guys are in the top 24 in the rankings.

Berndt Kerchbaumer is just outside the top 24 in 26th.

2 of the other guys outside the top 24 are Icelanders, who will be competing infront of a home crowd.

Kazelniks seems to have been invited to represent Latvia instead of Bergmanis, who I'm guessing is injured/retired?

The only other anomaly I can see is that Derek Poundstone seems to be in in place of Jon Anderson. Is Jon Anderson injured perhaps?
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Olly Jackson
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I'm confused as to why Latvia should get an athlete, just because they 'had' Bergmanis. After all, I cant remember any other strongman heritage that they have, and with a population of around 2 million, its not as if they deserve an athlete on the back of their global significance.

But, like I said earlier, I agree with all you're saying Colin, I just guess it frustrates me how the strongman scene is in the UK right now. We have guys like yourself and the Portsmouth boys busting a gut to get lots of comps on to the extent that the average athlete has never had it so good, yet it seems to me that none of this has filtered upwards to the higher level.

You're right to say that they have pretty much picked their top ranked athletes, I guess I just feel that they are the top ranked athletes because they are the guys that were invited to turn up at the previous events. They kind of got the places by default. Although, im certainly not saying these guys arent great strongmen, becuase they clearly are.
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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
In all honesty, this year, as far as the UK was concerned, for a variety of reasons, IFSA didnt really deliver. There were Qualifiers for an IFSA British Championship, but for some reason I am not aware of the final didnt happen. Oli asked permission to compete in the TWI BSM contest when this situation became apparent, and he was allowed to compete by all involved, with no problem. Hopefully this is a glimpse of the future with more athlete freedom.

The u105kg Britian's were going to be staged by Jon Bowles, unfortunately due to personal problems he was unable to arrange the event, so myself and the PSMA stepped in to salvage a contest at the last minute. Whether IFSA choose to recognise the winner and invite him to a future u105 contest is up to them. I would hope that they will, and I see no reason why they won't do it. I have not however been told officially that it is the case, so at this time it is a case of wait and see.

I would say that any athlete who performs well and impresses at the u105kg contest in december will not have done his chances of competing at a higher level any harm, obviously.
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danegarreau

Jon Anderson tore his ACL/MCL/Patella at the team contest a few months ago. He was doing the sumo wrestling and his knee just kinda gave way.

Derek Poundstone is very very good. He definately deserves to be there. He came in5th at USA's strongest man. I think he will have a very good performance.
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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
danegarreau
Oct 20 2006, 01:02 PM
Jon Anderson tore his ACL/MCL/Patella at the team contest a few months ago. He was doing the sumo wrestling and his knee just kinda gave way.

Derek Poundstone is very very good. He definately deserves to be there. He came in5th at USA's strongest man. I think he will have a very good performance.

Thanks, that pretty much explains the Jon Anderson / Derek Poundstone thing then. I have heard good things of Derek Poundstone and I am sure he will perform well.
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joakim
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Here are some training videos of Poundstone: youtube.com/profile?user=lbstone
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Real Dutch Power
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Quote:
 
Then I remember that there is no Brit at the European 105s, that there couldnt have been because IFSA had no 105kg championship in Britain.


In Holland there was no -105kg championship either (IFSA - not IFSA). Still they invite Fouad Hsaini. He did compete at IFSA Dutch Strongest Man this year.

Jan
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terry_hollands
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I'm 29 Stone I can wear whatever the fuck I want!!&#
I don't normally comment on things like this but i've drunk 3 litres of vodka tonight so fuck it. Nothing against any of the ifsa boys all of the guys there are quality.

but i understand where olly is coming from, i think what he's saying is the guys who have qualified are the guys that have been invited to they're grand prix's. How do british guys get invited without an ifsa britains? Do they know if there are enough good british guys or not?

i'm hoping oli performs as well as he is capable of because if he does he'll kick some arse and show what the brits are made of.

good luck oli!
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Llamapower
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Not The Mama
It was a real dissapointment that the IFSA Britian's didnt go ahead. I think it set IFSA back a huge amount in Britian as far as credibility goes.

It is vital that there is a 2007 IFSA Britian's.

I think the TWI/Super-Series BSM needs a bit of sorting out as well, in terms of qualification. They need a southern qualifier that is actually in the south in 2007! I know that several people offered to organise one, so there is no real excuse.

In terms of having a decent qualifying structure, I think the UK's did things the right way. I've been critical of alot of things where the "UK Strength Council" have been concerned, but credit where it is due - they had a range of contests giving people from all areas a chance to qualify.
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