Jon Pall Sigmarsson – Larger Than Life (DVD)

AUD $29.95

A-1258  Digital Download  Duration: 110 mins  Sample Clip

Champions come and go, but legends never die! The documentary video “Larger Than Life” …the story of Jón Páll Sigmarsson, is a great film about the real Viking of the 20th Century, and one of the greatest sportsmen who ever lived.

 

Description

Jon Pall Sigmarsson: Larger Than Life

(April 28, 1960 – January 16, 1993)

Champions come and go, but legends never die! The documentary video “Larger Than Life” …the story of Jón Páll Sigmarsson, is a great film about the real Viking of the 20th Century, and one of the greatest sportsmen who ever lived. Jón Páll was a weightlifter and powerlifter from Iceland, who won the World’s Strongest Man Competition four times (1984, 1986, 1988 and 1990).

Jón Páll’s life was in some ways, a fairy-tale. As a local celebrity, he appeared regularly in the media. The Icelanders liked his public presence to a large extent and enjoyed his popular one-liners. Many of his remarks are still well known in Iceland, and one of those became the title of the Jón Páll documentary, “Þetta er ekkert mál fyrir Jón Pál” …The meaning would be: “This is no problem for Jón Páll”  It happened live on the Icelandic television, at the time Jón Páll was setting a European record in weightlifting.

In a tragic irony, he died at the age of 32 (January 16, 1993), while exercise in the gym. He knew he had serious heart problems in his family and was aware of this weakness. He will always be remembered as peaceful, caring, nice and a loving man and one of the greatest strength athletes of his time.

In this film we follow Jon Pall from his childhood to glorious victories, we hear about his love life, the illness that finally defeated him, the gossip and accusations of steroid use, his role as a father and finally his last moments in the gym.

Four-time World’s Strongest Man winner Jon Pall Sigmarsson was the larger-than-life Icelandic strongman whose story was captured in this powerful documentary by the team of Hjalti Arnason and Steingrimur Thordarson. In its portrayal of this Icelandic legend, this film broke new ground, capturing Jon Pall’s life from childhood to death, combining actual clips with wonderful re-enactments.  (“How did they get that footage of Jon Pall as a child?”). Lighting the strongman world on fire, the DVD’s impact has been far greater as well, setting box office and DVD sales records in Iceland, and capturing the attention of the film industry beyond the world of strength and far from the Land of Fire and Ice.

The premiere of the film, held in Reykjavik in 2006, was attended by Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, as well as guests from around the world.  Now, for the first time, the Jon Pall documentary is available on DVD and in English. If you are a strength athlete, fan, coach or just want to see an excellent film on a remarkable person, put this DVD at the top of your list.

Jón Páll Sigmarsson bio (April 28, 1960 – January 16, 1993) Jon Pall was a strongman, a powerlifter, an excellent bodybuilder and  weightlifter from Iceland who won the World’s Strongest Man Competition four times (1984, 1986, 1988, 1990). In 1984 Sigmarsson won the Icelandic bodybuilding title in the +90 kg. class. His achievements in powerlifting also include Icelandic records in the bench press and the squat, but his best performances were usually in the deadlift event, in which he set the European record many times.

A famous quote from him is “there is no point in being alive if you cannot do the deadlift”. In a tragic irony, he died at the age of 32 while performing this exercise in the gym. He knew he had serious heart problems in his family and was aware of this weakness. He will always be remembered as one of the greatest strength athletes of his time and probably of all time. He used to shout, “I am not an Eskimo, I am a Viking!” Two other famous quotes are, “I am in seventh heaven” which was his translation of an Icelandic saying, and “Ekkert mál fyrir Jón Pál” which roughly translates as “It’s no problem for Jón Páll”.