Mark Jerrold Henry is a two-time Olympian, winner of national and world titles in powerlifting and weightlifting, world record holder in powerlifting, is a strength prodigy, and many experts in the field consider him to be the most naturally gifted strongman in history. His best lifts in weightlifting and powerlifting, added together, comprise a total which is the best in history.

Lifetime drug-free, Henry comes from a family in which almost all of the men are gigantic, especially his Great Uncle Chudd, who was 6’7″, weighed approximately 500 pounds, never had a pair of manufactured shoes, and was known as the strongest man in the woods of east Texas. Henry, himself, is 6’3″ and has weighed between 400 and 420 during most of his competitive life. At the age of ten he already weighed 220 pounds, and when he was in elementary school he was forbidden to play with his classmates for fear he would accidentally hurt them.

In less than a year of competition as a teenager, he held all the American Junior records and he went on to win four national championships and a gold medal in the Pan American Games. By 1996 Henry had received international fame as the “Strongest Man in the World,” winning the Arnold Classic Strong Man competition in 2002 and in 2011 Henry became the World Heavyweight Champion of the WWE professional wrestling league.

WWE’s Mark Henry to Be Inducted into International Sports Hall of Fame
Wrestling Inc. Release: Mark Henry Comments On His International Sports Hall Of Fame Induction
WWE Release: Mark Henry talks about his induction