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Mike Jenkins (strongman)
Mike Jenkins (November 3, 1982 – November 28, 2013) was an American professional strongman competitor from Westminster, Maryland.[2] During his short pro career, Jenkins competed at the highest level of the sport. In 2012, Jenkins won the Arnold Strongman Classic, regarded as one of the most prestigious competitions in strongman. Jenkins died at age 31 after only three years of pro-level competition. Early LifeJenkins was a precocious athlete, reportedly weighing 225 pounds at age 12, squatting 400 pounds, and benching 315 pounds in sixth grade.[3] He played college football, first at Kent State and later at James Madison University, where he was a starting offensive lineman for their 2004 FCS national championship. After college, Jenkins briefly played for the arena football team the Georgia Force. After leaving football and throughout his strongman career, Jenkin worked as a high school athletics director at Milton Hershey School in Hershey, PA.[2] Jenkins began pursuing strongman as he felt "aimless" without participating in sports.[4] His first competition was Maryland's Strongest Man contest in 2007. He won, qualifying him for the North American amateur national strongman championships later that year. There, he placed sixth against a field of approximately 100 competitors.[2] He placed second in the North American nationals in 2009.[2] Strongman CareerJenkins competed in the inaugural Arnold Amateur Strongman World Championships in 2010 and won that contest.[2] This victory earned him his pro strongman card, as well as an invitation to the 2011 Arnold Strongman Classic. He competed in the 2010 America's Strongest Man later in the year and placed second behind 3-time champion Derek Poundstone.[5] He entered the 2011 Arnold Strongman Classic placing second overall ahead of the reigning World's Strongest Man, Zydrunas Savickas. [6] Later that year, he qualified for the finals of the 2011 World's Strongest Man contest, where he won the first two events but ultimately finished in eighth place overall after withdrawing after suffering a back injury. Jenkins won the 2012 Arnold Strongman Classic, finishing ahead of former champions Derek Poundstone, Zydrunas Savickas and Brian Shaw,[7] and won the Giants Live event in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on March 17, 2012, which qualified him for the 2012 World's Strongest Man contest later in the year.[8] He set a joint world record in the hip lift event with Nick Best with a lift of 1,150 kilograms (2,540 lb).[8] In the 2012 World's Strongest Man contest, Jenkins again reached the finals and finished in fifth place. [9] His final professional strongman competition was the 2013 World's Strongest Man contest, where he finished in fourth overall in the finals. [10] Mike Jenkins died on November 28, 2013, aged 31, in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania from an enlarged heart, suspected to be caused by long-term steroid use.[11][12][13] Personal records
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