In a YouTube video posted early on Monday, February 3, 2017 World’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall announced that he was working with Arnold Schwarzenegger on plans to create a version of the Arnold Sports Festival for the United Kingdom. The new event is expected to launch in October of 2021. Hall also shared the news along with personal thoughts on an Instagram post.
“Never thought I’m a million years I’d be doing business with @schwarzenegger . Growing up watching a man I admired and idolized to now working with him is honestly the best thing ever, cannot wait to show the UK what the @arnoldsportsuk is all about.”
BarBend reached out to the Arnold Sports Festival for confirmation. Matt Lorz of the ASF offered this statement:
“We are excited to be working with legendary strongman Eddie Hall and Stephen Michael Olexy of An Experience With for the 2021 Arnold Classic UK. More information about the event will be announced soon.”
Stephen Michael Olexy is best known to the British community for the series of stage shows called “An Experience With…” which features celebrities onstage being interviewed, telling stories, and answering questions for an audience. Schwarzenegger was one of the past celebrities to headline one of these events.
Olexy states in the video that arrangements was made with the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham and a deal was made for that venue to host the event for three years. So that means this new event will be held until at least 2023.
The new hosting nation is the latest in a series of moves that the ASF has made to take their fitness events global. The original Arnold Classic started in 1989 and eventually evolved into the modern Arnold Sports Festival that is held annually in Columbus, Ohio. They have held the Arnold Europe event in different locations since 2011.
Events are also held in South America, Africa, and Australia. There have also been past events in Asia.
Hall has worked in promotion as well in his own sport of strongman. He was a part of a group that promoted the Ultimate Strongman tandem event in Stoke en Trent in 2015. He has said that he has bigger plans for this event.
“We have got some amazing ideas. We have hundreds of different sports coming to the platform. A completely unique, expo. You’ll never see an expo like this and the professionalism and the experience is going to be above and beyond anything you’ve ever experienced.”
The video concludes with Hall training shoulders highlighted by him shoulder pressing 100 kg (220 pound) dumbbells for a single rep.
Featured Image: Instagram/eddiehallwsm, photo by @felicityfilms_
