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Jon Pall Sigmarsson. The Viking Warrior. The greatest strength athlete to ever live. My personal hero. Where do I begin?
Jon Pall was born in 1960 on the hallowed island of Iceland. Iceland, as you damn well should know, is the ultimate Viking nation. It was settled by Norwegian Vikings including Eirik the Red and his son, Leif Eiriksson. Iceland is the most homogeneous nation on the planet...they are basically all direct descendants of the Vikings. They still speak Old Norse for God's sake and embrace their Pagan ancestors by using the ancient Viking naming conventions (son and dottir for last names) It may as well be called Vikingland. So Jon Pall was obviously born into a certain amount of "Vikingness".
Normally this is where I would start making my selections' case for this honor but in Jon Pall's case this is not necessary. Look at the fucking guy! He was a Viking God...Thor in the flesh. At his peak he was 6'3 and 290 pounds of Nordic perfection. His accomplishments are amazing in the field of strength athletics. At age 19, he placed 2nd in the Nordic championship with lifts of 550 squat, 385 bench, 620 deadlift. Those are amazing numbers considering he was 6'3 and about 250 lbs at the time. At age 20, he broke the European record in the deadlift at a beastly 790 lbs. Jon Pall won his first World Strongest Man in 1984. He went onto win three more WSM titles to become the first four time champion.
On accomplishments alone, Jon Pall is worthy of the Man of the Month title. When you combine his accomplishments and his indomitable Viking spirit I am not sure I am worthy of honoring him but that won't stop me from humbly doing so. Jon Pall embodied what being a Viking is all about. He was simply larger than life. It is common knowledge that he could have run for President of Iceland in 1980 at age 20 and won quite easily. He chose not to run to concentrate on powerlifting. Clearly, he was beloved in Iceland. His native land only has 250,000 people so his accomplishments and persona made him a national icon.
Jon Pall had the "it" factor. What is the "it" factor? Charisma, presence, gravitas....its hard to pinpoint but you know it when you see it. One of my favorite moments of Jon Pall's career was at a powerlifting meet where he uttered one of his many famous quotes "Ekkert mál fyrir Jón Pál" which means "Its no haul for Jon Pall" upon completing the winning lift. He, of course, held the weight and laughed his famous "Ha Ha" laugh.
Now that is Viking manliness! Not only did he let everyone know that he was the man but he did it with a charm that is uncommon in today's athletes. That is just one example of his brilliant ability to talk shit and be charismatic about it. During a world's strongest man event in France someone from the crowd called him an Eskimo, referring to his Icelandic heritage. As he prepared to lift, he heard this, smiled and bellowed "I am not an Eskimo, I am a Viking!". He then lifted the weight, nodded with approval and turned around and flexed on the guy who dared call him an Eskimo.
Stories of Jon Pall's dominance and humor don't stop there. At a contest, in Australia, there was a Husafell stone carry. Every other competitor could barely lift the stone and no one could walk more than a couple meters with it. Jon Pall then picked up the stone and walked a couple shaky steps with it, then started dancing and bowing to the spectators while still carrying the stone, for the full distance of the event. In a matchup with long time rival Geoff Capes in the farmers walk, Capes went first and set a tough mark to beat. Jon Pall had to beat him to win the event and the competition. At the starting line he put a flower in his teeth and started the walk. As he approached Capes' distance his legs started wobbling and he staggered as if he could not make one more step... then he stopped stood fully upright, smiled to the crowd and strode powerfully past Capes' distance to win the event, flower intact!
Jon Pall's main rival and contemporary was Bill Kazmaier, the last great American strongman. Due to Kaz's hot temper he was not allowed to compete in WSM for three years while Jon Pall established his dominance. Kazmaier, a legend in his own right, did not like Jon Pall's flashy, crowd-pleasing antics. He once called Jon Pall a "paper champion" because his titles were won in his absence. In 1987, they would be paired along with fellow legend, Geoff Capes, in the Pure Strength Challenge. Jon Pall crushed Kazmaier by winning 8 of 10 events. In 1988, they would square off again, this time in the World Strongest Man with Jon Pall winning the title with Kaz coming in 2nd place. Jon Pall handled himself with his normal charm but did say after winning "Kazmaier is angry because I teach him a lesson last year and he is calling me a paper champion but I will make him eat his paper now".
In 1990, in his last World's Strongest Man victory held in Finland he was asked why he was so confident that he would prevail and he simply said "We are in a Viking country and I am a Viking". Asked at the conclusion of the 1990 victory if he would be back in WSM he said "Because I am a Viking warrior, I will always be back". Sadly, this was not the case. He battled injuries for the next two years and did not compete again. In the midst of training for a comeback, he was at his home gym in Iceland deadlfiting and he suffered an aortic tear and died in the gym. He was 32 years old. I can think of no manlier way to die. Cancer? Weak. Old age? For mortals. Having your heart explode in the midst of full physical exertion guarantees entrance into Valhalla.
Ironically, my favorite quote from Jon Pall was prescient "There is no reason to be alive if you cannot do deadlift". Jon Pall died doing what he loved. According to Magnus Ver Magnusson and others, Jon Pall knew that he would die from his congenital heart defect and was in touch with the fact that his life would not last long. Rather than retire and sit around...he drove on, knowing that each rep could be his last. That is Viking courage and I can think of nothing in the modern world that equals that level of Viking spirit. Jon Pall Sigmarsson is my idol. I am determined to travel to Iceland to visit his gym and see his statue and gravemark. Normally I would say "Rest in Peace Jon Pall" but there is no peace for an expired Viking warrior. I know he is in Valhalla throwing axes, drinking mead and flexing on the generations of Vikings that came before him. Remember Jon Pall in the gym and remember "er neitun ástæða til vera lifandi ef þú geta ekki gera eindagi" (there is no reason to be alive if you cannot do deadlift). Jon Pall was The Viking. All Hail Jon Pall!
For those interested in the inspirational and Viking life of Jon Pall Sigmarsson there is a movie called "Larger Than Life". The premier of the film, held in Reykjavik in 2006, was attended by Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, as well as guests from around the world. You can buy it at Jon Pall's Website.
