Since its debut in 1989, the Arnold Classic attracts over 200,000 sports fans watching more than 20,000 athletes challenging their strength and stamina.
The championship has expanded into the world’s largest multi-sport and bodybuilding competition, featuring 50 sports and games, including 12 Olympic sports.
Former Olympians and Olympic hopefuls compete to break world records in the US and Australia.
The Arnold Classic Rogue Record Breakers USA event took place at the Columbus Convention Center in Ohio last Sunday, seeing three of the strongest men in the world try their hands at setting new world records.
Eight-time champion and 2016 Arnold Strongman Classic winner Zydrunas Savickas won again over hard competition and he is now ready to bring the trophy Down Under, showing why he is still the man to beat.
The under-card will again feature in the battle for the Southern Hemisphere’s Strongest Man, with reigning champion Eben Le Roux determined to defend the title and keep it here in Oz for another year.
Two Greek Australians have qualified this year, ready to take on the world’s most fierce giants over six gruelling events for the chance to become the Arnold Strongman Australia 2016 champion, taking place next weekend at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.
Andrew Bakos and Spyros Lambas have qualified and will be competing in the under 105kg and under 90kg categories respectively, alongside 80 competitors in total in all weight divisions.
“I have played soccer for the majority of my life and have only converted to this sport over the last 12 months,” Spyros Lambas said.
“It’s a sport which is growing here and I would like to see more Greeks being involved as there are a lot of strong Greeks with big Spartan hearts who would be good at this.”
He has made remarkable progress following a disciplined training routine which has helped him increase his dead-lift by 100kg in just two years, raising the 130kg bar to 235kg.
It is this progress that made Olympic Greek medallist Valerios Leonidis, who is currently the Greek national weightlifting team’s coach, invite Lambas to train with him Greece.
Leonidis was recently in Australia and helped the athlete train, giving him valuable advice on how to meet his goals, something he still does over Skype.
“I’m proud to have made such massive improvements allowing me to compete against contestants who have been doing this for many more years,” Lambas said.
“The AC is a highly esteemed competition bringing together athletes from all over Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA and South Africa.”
Indeed, this years competition is the perfect formula for a high-level strongman competition with the right blend of heavy events to show off static strength combined with fast paced moving events. The winner will need to be everything that makes a great strongman demonstrating power, speed, strength, explosiveness and the right amount of endurance.
“The Arnolds is the biggest event in the southern hemisphere,” Lambas told Neos Kosmos, stressing how excited he is “to have qualified and be able to test my strength against some of the strongest in the world”.
Lambas, who has been training in the Strong Melbourne gym in Oakleigh, hopes that his 2016 participation will help him further develop in the sport and promote Greek determination.
“My uniform usually features a Greek flag on my top or the colours of my beloved AEK as you can see,” he says laughing.
“Every time I have taken part in an event I always wear something that symbolises my Greek heritage.
“Wish me luck.”
For more information on the event head to www.arnoldclassic.com.au
When: 18-20 March 2016 – all day
Where: Melbourne Exhibition Centre, 1 Convention Centre Pl, South Wharf VIC 3006
