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| Native name | Matjaž Belšak | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 September 1992 Slovenia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 1.5 in (187 cm) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 335 lb (152 kg) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Strongman | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Matjaz Belsak (in Slovenian Matjaž Belšak; born 23 September 1992)[1][2] is a Slovenian professional strongman[3] and powerlifter.[4][5] Having competed in 60 International strongman competitions and winning 10 of them, Belsak is among the 20 most decorated strongmen of all time.[6]
Matjaž Belšak was born in a village Seničica,[7] near Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia[1] on 23 September 1992.[1][8][2] He grew up in a family of cooks; his parents own a restaurant "Gostilna Belšak"[9] where he still occasionally works as an apprentice chef.[7][2] He graduated in Tourist Studies.[10][11]
Matjaž started working out in 2008, when he was 15,[7] with a goal to become stronger. As his strength was increasing really fast, it soon became clear that he might be able to show some really decent results in couple of years. He decided to compete on his first powerlifting meet in 2010, when he was 17 years old.[12][7] During his early years of strength related sports he set quite a few Slovenian national records[7][12] in powerlifting and he even won the overall gold in GPC Slovenian Powerlifting nationals in 2010.[7] In 2012 he won his first and only international powerlifting meet (GPC), totaling 875 kg / 1929 lbs (360 kg / 793,5 lbs in squat, 190 kg / 419 lbs in bench press and 325 kg / 716,5 in deadlift).[4][5] After that competition he only focused on the sport of strongman.
A former Slovenian strongman and Slovenia's strongest man at that time Gregor Stegnar[10][13][2] saw the potential[13] in the young powerlifter and inspired him to try strongman for the first time in 2012,[7] offering him his mentorship.[7][14] Matjaž quickly fell in love with the sport.[7] He started competing in competitions in Slovenia and surrounding countries.
Matjaž became a professional strongman after winning the Savickas classic competition in 2015,[10][12] which enabled him to compete in the Strongman Champions League in the next season at just 20 years old, where he was among the youngest competing athletes.
Almost immediately after starting to compete in strongman, Matjaž won the title of Slovenia's strongest man in 2014[8] and did it again in 2015[8] He kept that title until 2017. In 2018,[14] 2019[15][16] and 2022[17][18] he, besides competing and winning, also took over the organisation of this very competition. There were no Slovenia's Strongest man competitions in the years of 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021.
After a few successful years of competing on the international level, Matjaž was invited to compete in the World's Strongest Man.
Matjaž competed on three different Europe's Strongest Man competitions, always finishing in the top 10:
Matjaž competed on Arnold Strongman Classic events all over the world. His most important placings were:
Matjaž had a complete right hip replacement on 24 June 2021[39] because of an old injury. The injury made him unable to compete for some time. His first strongman competition after the hip replacement was Slovenia's Strongest man 2022,[17] which he also won, just about a year after the surgery. During the rehabilitation he also competed at Slovenia's Arm Wrestling Championship 2022.[40]
Matjaž is 187 cm tall (6 ft 2 in)[10][2] and weighs around 150 kg (330 lbs)[10][8][2] during the competitive strongman season.
Matjaž trains most of the time in his home gym.[7][26] He usually trains for 3–4 hours a day, besides his regular stretching and mobility routines.[7] He usually has 5 meals per day[14] and consumes between 5000 and 7000 calories daily.[14] He tries to sleep for at least 8 hours every night.[7][14]
Despite being one of the strongest people on earth, Matjaž does not get that much media attention in Slovenia.[14] However, he made a few appearances in Slovenian's most important media:
