Today is the 143rd anniversary since the birth of Croatian Marijan Matijević, once the strongest man in the world.
Matijević was born on 10th of January 1878 in Duboki Dol (Gračac) in Lika, Croatia, and became the world’s best Greco-Roman wrestler of his era, winning countless medals and titles.
Nicknamed the ‘Lika Samson’, Matijević had extraordinary strength and also won many awards for his incredible displays of power, in his mouth he could lift 430kgs, on his arms 600 kgs, and 1,130 kgs on his back.
He wrestled against many of the great wrestlers of his time and beat them all. Matijević was raised in the mountainous region of Lika and was exposed to heavy, physical work from a young age.