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John Brzenk
Born	John Brzenk (1964-07-15) July 15, 1964 (age 47) McHenry, Illinois, USA
Residence	Sandy, Utah, USA
Nationality	USA
Other names	"The Golden Boy" "The Perfect Storm"
Education	College graduate
Occupation	Arm wrestler
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	90 kilograms (200 lb) to 102 kilograms (220 lb)
Title	World champion
Religion	Christian
Spouse	yes
Children	yes

John Brzenk (born July 15, 1964) is a professional armwrestler from the United States. He competes in the Professional Armwrestling League, and as of 2009 is the number-one armwrestler in the world.^[1] John was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the "Greatest Armwrestler of All Time"^[2][3]

Biography[link]

John Brzenk's father was an arm wrestler^[4] and John says he gained some of his forearm size through genetics. He arm wrestled across tables in school for about five years. When he was in eighth grade, he broke his arm while armwrestling a friend of his father. When he was 16 years old he participated in his first tournament.

John Brzenk won his first world title on ABC's 1983 Wide World of Sports when he was 18 years old.^[3] His right forearm is 16 inches in circumference, and his left is 13.5 inches. The heaviest opponent he faced weighed 660 lbs, whom he defeated. John has lost a supermatch only once, and only a handful of people have beaten him (including his brother, Bill). The most noted of them are Devon Larratt and Alexey Voyevoda. Aside from arm wrestling, he works as a mechanic at Delta Air Lines.^[5] He says the job is non-physical so his arms get plenty of rest. He makes $13,000 to $15,000 a year arm wrestling.

Brzenk won four world championships in the heavyweight division through 1994, and gained the nickname of "Superman" for defeating much larger opponents. In 1995, he won the middleweight world championship.^[6] He had an uncredited cameo in the 1987 Sylvester Stallone film Over the Top. The feature documentary "Pulling John", directed by Vassiliki Khonsari and produced by Navid Khonsari, chronicles Brzenk's legendary armwrestling career and follows him intimately for 4 years during which he competes all over the world, while considering retiring.^[7]

Profile[link]

• Height: 6'1^[6]
• Weight: Varies between 200 and 225 lbs. depending on competition classes.
• Arm: 18.25 in.
• Forearm: 16.5 in^[2]

Training and strength feats[link]

• In 2005 he said that he could bench press 315 lbs for 5 reps with a close grip.
• He says that he trains biceps with 50 lbs dumbbells and does wrist curls with the same weight. When asked what his one-rep max was he replied that he never tries one rep max because he fears that he would drop the weight on his feet.
• A friend of his said that in his prime he was very close to closing the Captains of Crush Grippers #3 gripper. John says that now he is "nowhere near closing it". He trains with grippers and says that "I have a gripper in my car and when i am driving i try to make between 200 and 240 reps as fast as possible".
• He advises that the best exercise for arm wrestling is pullups.

Achievements[link]

AAA Stand-Up National Titles:

• 1984 – R200 lbs
• 1985 – R185 lbs
• 1986 – R220 lbs
• 1990 – R220 lbs

AWI World Titles:

• 1986 – Pro Super Heavyweight
• 1987 – Pro Light Heavyweight
• 1988 – Pro Light Heavyweight
• 1995 – Pro Light Heavyweight
• 2001 – Pro Super Heavyweight

Carling O’Keefe International Titles:

• 1989 – R 200 lbs, R 231+ lbs

Forsa Tropical International Titles:

• 1998 – R198 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs

GNC Pro Performance Title:

• 2002 – R198 lbs

GOLDEN BEAR Titles: SUPERMATCH (Absolut Champion)

• R1994

Pro tournament

• R90+ kg: 1990, 1994, 1998
• R90 kg: 1990

Harley Pull Titles:

• 2000 – R220 lbs + Harley Winner
• 2001 – R220 lbs
• 2002 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
• 2009 – R225 lbs, L225 lbs + Harley Winner

Main Event Titles:

• 1998 - R220 lbs

Mike Gould Classic Titles:

• 2006 – R220 lbs, L220 lbs
• 2010 – R220 lbs

Mohegan Sun PAC World Titles:

• 2005 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs
• 2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
• 2007 – R198 lbs, L198 lbs

Over the Top World Title:

• 1986 – Winner of Truckers Division in Heavyweight class

Reno Reunion Titles:

• 1999 – R200 lbs, R230 lbs, R231+ lbs, L200 lbs
• 2000 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
• 2001 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs
• 2002 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
• 2003 – R233+ lbs
• 2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
• 2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs

ROTN Titles:

• 2007 – R215 lbs, L215 lbs
• 2008 – R242 lbs, L242 lbs
• 2009 – R199+ lbs

Sands International Wrist Wrestling/Armwrestling Titles:

• 1988 - R190 lbs
• 1989 - R190 lbs, R215 lbs

Sherkston Beaches International Titles:

• 1987 – R200 lbs, R201+ lbs

SuperStar Showdown Titles:

• 2004 – R199+ lbs
• 2005 – R198 lbs

Ultimate Armwrestling (Las Vegas) Titles:

• 2004 - R242 lbs
• 2005 - R198 lbs, L198 lbs
• 2006 - R242 lbs, R243+ lbs

USAA National Pro-Am Titles:

• 1996 – R200 lbs, R201+ lbs
• 1997 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs
• 1998 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
• 1999 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
• 2000 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
• 2001 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
• 2002 – R198 lbs, R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L198 lbs, L242 lbs
• 2003 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
• 2004 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs
• 2005 – R242 lbs
• 2006 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
• 2007 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs
• 2009 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs, L242 lbs, L243+ lbs
• 2010 – R242 lbs, R243+ lbs

USAF Unified National Title:

• 2005 – R220 lbs

WAF World Championship Titles:

• 1999 – L100 kg, Supermatch Winner

World Wristwrestling Championship (Petaluma) Titles:

Heavyweight Division

• R: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2001

Light Heavyweight Division

• R: 1998, 2001
• L: 1998, 2001

Middleweight Division

• R - 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2001
• L - 1996, 1998, 2001

Lightweight Division

• R - 1984

WPAA World Title:

• 1985 – Middleweight

Yukon Yack National/World Titles:

Heavyweight Division

• R: 1990, 19991, 1992, 1993,

Middleweight Division

• R: 1995, 1996.

Zloty Tur/Nemiroff World Cup Titles:

Open Cat.

• R: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Cat. 95 kg

• R: 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• L: 2007, 2009

R - Right Hand L - Left Hand

References[link]

1. ^ Graney, Ed (2009-06-20). "Ed Graney: Top arm wrestler quashes myths". Las Vegas Review-Journal. http://www.lvrj.com/sports/48673447.html. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b} World of Armwrestling
3. ^ ^{a b} Pulling John
4. ^ Lowitt, Bruce (1992-07-16). "Defending champ says it's not all in the arm". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KvENAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tXoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6326,186799. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 
5. ^ Robinson, Doug (1994-08-14). "Over-the-top sport has quiet champ". The Deseret News. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LsQRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Ce0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6378,6498185. Retrieved 2010-08-11. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ ^{a b} "Brzenk, 4 others seek arm wrestling titles". The Deseret News. 1996-09-13. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4_onAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xewDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4611,6983649. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 
7. ^ Calhoun, Bob (2010-05-14). "Straight to DVD: "Pulling John," arm wrestling's holy grail". Salon.com. http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/film_salon/2010/05/14/pulling_john. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 

External links[link]

• http://ifitandhealthy.com/john-brzenk-arm-wrestling/
• http://www.armwrestlinghistorychannel.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (October 2007)

Christopher Mark Chandler^[1] (born October 12, 1965) is a retired American football player, who played as a quarterback in the National Football League for 17 seasons. He is known for leading the Atlanta Falcons to a 14-2 season in 1998, followed up with an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIII.

Early years[link]

Chris Chandler was born on October 12, 1965, in Everett, Washington. In high school, he was active in basketball, football, track and golf. As a high school quarterback, Chandler threw for 2,000 yards and 49 touchdowns.

In college, Chandler played for the University of Washington from 1984 to 1987. He finished third in the school's history in total offense with 4,442 yards and 32 touchdown passes, and ended his college career as the Offensive Player of the Game at the 1988 Senior Bowl. He graduated with an economics degree.

Statistics[link]

Professional career[link]

Chandler played in the NFL for 17 seasons, from 1988-2004. He played for eight teams, a record shared with Mark Royals, Karl Wilson, and Jeff Brady (although Chandler is the only player to have started for eight different teams). He threw for 28,484 yards, and had a career passer rating of 79.1.^[2] He has thrown at least one touchdown pass for seven different franchises, an NFL record.^[3] At the time of his retirement, he was ranked 30th in all-time pass completions, with 2328. He was continually bothered by injuries, which earned him the unflattering moniker of "Crystal Chandelier" amongst his detractors.^[4] Chandler holds the record for the oldest player to score a 2 pt. conversion (37 years, 358 days).^{[citation needed]}

1988-1996[link]

He was taken in the third round of the draft by the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts deemed Chandler expendable due to his poor play, and the fact that they selected Jeff George with the first overall choice in the 1990 draft. Chandler was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1990 for a 1st round draft choice that turned out to be the 2nd overall pick (The Colts also had the 1st pick the same year. The pick that they got for Chandler they used on Quentin Coryatt). Chandler struggled, and was cut during the 1991 season. As a Buccaneer, he had an 0-6 record as a starter, threw for 5 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and had a passer rating of 44.9.^[5]

From 1992-1994 he played reasonably well as a starter and backup for the Phoenix Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams. After joining the Houston Oilers in 1995, he would earn the starting job. His highlight with the team came on September 24, 1995 at Cincinnati.^[6] In the Oilers' 38-28 victory Chandler threw for 352 yards and 4 touchdowns, and earned a perfect passer rating of 158.3 after completing 23 of 26 passes. However, late in 1996, Jeff Fisher decided that Steve McNair was ready to start, and Chandler was traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a fourth-round draft choice.

1997-2004[link]

Chandler's best seasons were with Atlanta, when he was coached by Dan Reeves. Chandler was a Pro Bowl quarterback in 1997 and 1998. The 1998 season saw Chandler lead the Falcons to their only Super Bowl appearance, though Atlanta lost to John Elway and the Denver Broncos (coached by Mike Shanahan). In 1998, Chandler's 9.65 yards-per-attempt figure was the highest single-season YPA of any quarterback in the 1990s with 300+ passing attempts.

Following the 2000 season, Chandler's record as a starting Atlanta quarterback was 28-25, which prompted the Falcons to consider recruiting a new quarterback. Atlanta held the fifth overall pick in the 2001 draft, and traded the pick to the San Diego Chargers, along with Tim Dwight, a third round pick in 2001, and a 2002 second round pick (which became Reche Caldwell). In return, Atlanta received the first overall pick in the 2001 draft, which they used to select quarterback Michael Vick. Still, Chandler started most of the 2001 season, but was replaced by Vick in 2002 as the starting quarterback. Chandler left the Falcons ranked third in team history with 13,268 passing yards, but never achieved back-to-back winning seasons.

In 2002, Chandler was picked up by the Chicago Bears, and spent two seasons there before rejoining the Rams, who had moved to St. Louis. In his first start as a Ram in 2004, he threw six interceptions, a team record. The following week, his poor play led to coach Mike Martz saying, "It is tragic that, that position [when played by Chandler] holds this team hostage."^[7] As a result, Chandler was the first Ram to be released in the off-season, saving St. Louis $665,000 in cap space.

Personal life[link]

Chandler lives in San Diego and is married to Diane Brodie, a former college tennis player at USC and daughter of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback John Brodie.^[8] They have three daughters: Ryann, Skye, and Brynn.

Chandler is a regular competitor at the American Century Championship, the annual competition to determine the best golfers among American sports and entertainment celebrities. He won the tournament in 2007 and has a total of six top ten finishes.^[9] The tournament, televised by NBC in July, is played at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Lake Tahoe.^[10] Chandler helped coach the boy's golf team at Torrey Pines High School, where his oldest daughter Ryann plays on the volleyball team.^[11][12]

Chris and his wife, Diane, separated in 2010 and divorced in 2011. They each still live in Del Mar, California in separate residences.

See also[link]

• NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating

References[link]

External links[link]

• Stats at Pro-Football-Reference.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2011)

Lars Rørbakken
Born	Lars Rørbakken (17-07-1979) July 1979, 17 (age 1994) Bergen, Norway
Occupation	Strongman, Armwrestling

Competition record
Strongman
Competitor for  Norway
Norway's Strongest Man
5th	2007
3rd	2009
5th	2010
2nd	2011
Kristiansand showlift
1st	2008
Fitnessmessen Lillestrøm
2nd	2008
Heilt Vilt Strongman
1st	2008
Clash of Titans
1st	2008
2nd	2009

Lars Rørbakken(born July 17, 1979) is a strongman^[1] and armwrestler from Trengereid outside Bergen, Norway.

Armwrestling[link]

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
World Championship			3
European Championship		1	1
Nordic Championship	7	3	2
Norwegian Championship	14	3
Color Line Open	4

References[link]

External links[link]

• Norways second strongest man 2011
• Norwegian record 245 kilo stone
• 402,5 kg deadlift

Allen Fisher (born 1944) is a poet, painter, publisher, teacher and performer associated with the British Poetry Revival.

Fisher was born in London and started writing poetry in 1962. His early long project Place was published in a series of books and pamphlets in the 1970s. He worked on a project called Gravity as a consequence of shape from 1982 which he completed in 2007. This was followed by a book of emblems (poem-image-commentary) called "Proposals". As editor of Spanner and "New London Pride", he has published many of the Revival poets. He was also co-editor of Aloes Books. His last retrospective painting show was in Hereford Museum & Art Gallery in 1993. He has over 140 publications in his name consisting of art documentation, poetry and theory. He has been working on a book of essays "Assemblage & Empathy" regarding American Poetry & Art Since 1950 and other essays on poetics.

Fisher is Emeritus Professor of Poetry and Art at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has exhibited widely and his work is represented in the Tate Gallery.

He edits the magazine Spanner.

External links[link]

• Allen Fisher homepage and http://www.allenfisher.co.uk

• Allen Fisher Links at "Intercapillary Space" - links to online Fisher poems, reviews, essays and recordings.

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