Халықаралық күш спорты федерациясы (IFSA) тарихы

International governing body for strongman competition

The International Federation of Strength Athletes (IFSA or IFSA Strongman) was an international governing body for strongman competition. IFSA operated from 1995 to 2007 and was based in Glasgow, Scotland.

In 1995, David Webster, a Scotsman who later received an OBE for his services to sport and head coordinator of the World's Strongest Man from its inception, and his colleague Dr Douglas Edmunds, seven times Scottish shot and discus champion and twice world caber champion, along with representatives from the competitors in strength athletics including Jamie Reeves, Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert formed a governing body called the International Federation of Strength Athletes ("IFSA"). IFSA ran its own grand prix events from 1995 to 2001 in cooperation with WSM. IFSA began co producing the Strongman Super Series events from 2001 to 2004, still in cooperation with WSM. IFSA entered an agreement with World Class Events (WCE), headed by Ulf Bengtsson, to run the Strongman Super Series. The Strongman Super Series was designed to award the annual Strongman World Championship title, but also acted as a qualifying vehicle for the World's Strongest Man contest.

For almost a decade IFSA and WSM worked in full cooperation, but this changed at the end of the 2004 season when IFSA returned to organizing its own grand prix events and World Strongman Championships from 2005 to 2007. The InvestGroup Ventures' sports rights management arm, InvestGroup Sports Management, invested heavily into IFSA and this led to the creation of IFSA Strongman. The strategy was to acquire most of the international assets and properties relating to the strongman sport. In essence this was a new organization with some, such as Magnus Samuelsson describing it as "a new company with the same name as our old federation". The attempt at dominance was not well received by TWI/WSM and disagreement ensued leading to a split in the sport. When IFSA and WSM split in 2004, the Strongman Super Series sided with TWI/WSM forming a rival federation to the IFSA. IFSA eventually ended up owing $63,000 The 2007 IFSA World Championships would be the final contest run solely by, and under the banner of, IFSA. In 2008 IFSA executives Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert developed the Strongman Champions League and negotiated with IFSA to use its athletes. However, the dissolution of IFSA meant that since the end of 2007, the Strongman Champions League still operated independent of IFSA. Gradually, the last vestiges of IFSA influence began to diminish which led to the breaking down of barriers between the various concurrent circuits. Strength athletes were able to compete in more than one circuit and did so, with a cross over of athletes between the Giants Live circuit, the Strongman Champions League and the Strongman Super Series being apparent. The 2009 World's Strongest Man was therefore anticipated by the strength athletics world as promising to be "the best one yet" because the organisers could ensure invites were made to "every top athlete in the world" regardless of their affiliation to any particular strength athletics body.

Name and LocationChampionRunner Up3rd PlaceDate Helsinki, Finland Finland Grand Prix Jouko Ahola Sami Heinonen Janne Virtanen 6 March 1999 Faroe Islands Atlantic Giant Jouko Ahola Regin Vagadal Magnus Samuelsson 16 May 1999 Keszthely. Hungary Hungary Grand Prix Berend Veneberg Gerrit Badenhorst Jouko Ahola 18 July 1999 Hardenberg, Netherlands Holland Grand Prix Gerrit Badenhorst Jouko Ahola Berend Veneberg 24 July 1999 Prague, Czech Republic Czech Grand Prix Magnus Samuelsson Jouko Ahola Joe Onosai 14 August 1999 Iceland Viking of the North Hugo Girard Magnus Samuelsson Janne Virtanen 17 October 1999 Nordic Strongman Championships Matti Uppa

Developed by Ilkka Kinnunen and Marcel Mostert, the Strongman Champions League was launched in 2008 as "a new episode in strongman". It negotiated with IFSA to use its athletes. Since the end of 2008, the Strongman Champions League still operates independently after the dissolution of IFSA: