Hugo Girard Press Conference
by Randall J. Strossen, IronMind Enterprises, Inc. © 2005
Canadian Federation of Strength Athletics President Hugo Girard held a press conference earlier today in Quebec City explaining why his group, "does not recognize IFSA Strongman as the governing body of strongman," or the upcoming IFSA contest in Quebec, "as the world championships of strongman."
Strongman competitors and fans have been torn as the sport has split into a handful of groups this year - the principal players are IFSA Strongman and the World's Strongest Man Super Series.
Unquestionably, World's Strongest Man is the most recognized strongman contest, and as even more than the leading brand name, for years it has served as and has been recognized within the field as the world championships to such a degree that strongmen typically have referred to it as simply, "Worlds."
IFSA Strongman emerged this year with a master plan for recasting the sport on a much grander scale and, most observers would say, by relying heavily on the WWE model.
In today's press conference, Girard explained that his purpose was not to undermine the IFSA contest, but to clarify who would and would not be there, especially since the top Canadian strongmen would be competing in this year's World's Strongest Man contest, not the IFSA World Championships.