Eddie Hall on Thor's 'Fake' Record Deadlift

How much did it piss you off when Thor beat your deadlift world record? Like, be honest.

Honestly, it really didn't.

But weren't you bitching about it a bit online?

I mean, I wasn't bitching about it. I was just making a point of it wasn't done in a competition. Right. You know, it wasn't done under official rules. And this is a big part. I even said on his channel that that's why he came back and did it officially.

Right. So it's is. Is it? I mean, I obviously don't know the sport as well as you, but for all of us who don't, is it kind of quite illegitimate if it's not done under proper rul.

Yeah. 100. It's like me, you know, getting these weights in my basement, pulling 502 kilo here and getting a referee to down call it. Like, you don't know if those weights are fake. Right. As there's right weight or this platform's not bouncy or, you know, there's so many aspects that can call, and that's why we do them in competition, because it just eliminates any question mark and that's it. You know, in my honest opinion, he probably did pull 501 legitimately. Yeah. But that's the point of doing a competition. There is no buts.

Yeah.

You know, it's not, it's. He did it.

Yeah.

And that's why he's come back and done it in an official competition. Even he said on his own channel, I'm doing it to shut all the people up. That saying that one doesn't count. So even he himself admitted he understood that. He understood.

Yeah.

So.

And are you tempted to go back and do 511?

Not at all.

No.

Not at all. And as I say, I've had my day. Yeah. And I drew my line in the sand back in 2006. 16. You know, I set the 500 kilo deadlift in 2016, and that was my draw line in the sand. Like, I, I, I beat the world record by 37 kilos in one day. 37. Not one. 37.

Wow.

And for me, that was, that was enough. You know, if anyone's naive enough to think I couldn't have pulled more, you're bullshitting yourself. You know? You know, I could have pulled more.

Yeah.

A year later, at World Strongest Man 2017, I was a much stronger human being. Much stronger. And I got loads of people out. Let's, let's go. Let's push the boundaries more. Let's do 501, 502. And I was like, what's the point? No, no one's gonna care if I come back and do 5 or 1, 5 or 2, 5, 10. No one's gonna give a. It was that boundary. It was that magical 500 kilo boundary that I wanted to break and I broke it. And that's honestly, I am so happy and content to have done that. And I honestly believe the world record. If it wasn't for me, the world record would still be 470 kilo.

Like the four minute mile thing. Yeah, you. Yeah, yeah.

I honestly think if it wasn't for me, we'd still be pulling 475, 476, 477. It's because I came along, did 500 and now everyone's all of a sudden, all right, it's possible I can do that. So I push those boundaries. So in some little way, and people think I'm all right, smug come for saying this in some little way, I am responsible for this world record getting pushed higher and higher and higher. And I comm for, for, for doing it. I've like genuinely thought, well done. Like, I can say that. No, like well done for well deserved. I know what it takes to pull that.

I mean, didn't it, it didn't far off nearly kill you, didn't it?

Yeah, look, and that was, that was because I just pushed the boundaries so much.

Yeah.

For my size, you know, I'm six foot two at the time was 100, 186 kilo. Just, just bang on. 400 pounds at the time. Like I' to lift 500 kilo off the floor. I'm not meant to be able to lift founder Kilo the fly. I haven't got this height, the levers, the muscle mass. I didn't have that. It was the belief in here that made me pull that. Thor on the other hand, 6 foot 10, you know, he's a natural giant. Yeah, he should be doing that kind of weight. He should be pushing the boundaries more and more and more. He's got so much, so much more of a bigger skeleton that he can hold so much more muscle mass than me. You should be able to lift more than me. Yeah. So fair play, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's the, it's the hand of cards dealt to you by God that what you're capable of. And I was capable of 500, maybe a little bit more. Thor is capable of more. Yeah, he's capable of more than 510, probably 530. Probably. Probably more. Maybe 540.

Yeah.

I don't know. But that's. He is genuinely that bigger human being. He should be left in that kind of weight.

Yeah. And did you ever have any doubt, the whole lead up process? Because obviously the world watched you. Did you ever have any doubt?

Of course. Nothing but doubt. Oh really? Yeah, nothing but doubt. Because I mean that's all I had. All I had was doubt. You know, the, the world, you remember the world record at the time was 463 kilos. And you can go back and look on all the Internet forums. I remember seeing it on an Internet forum. Are we going to see a 500 killer deadlift in our lifetime? And every single comment said no. Every single one. And I'm talking thousands of comments. I went back and looted thousands. No, it's not going to happen. So in the lead up for that, everyone saying I was deluded, I was a, I was an idiot, you know, so I had every, every single bit of negativity was against me.

Yeah.

For that deadlift. So all the doubt crept in. Yeah, of course it was, it was a tough lift. More for that, more for that moment. And to be honest, like that when I released the deadlift bar and I collapse, I did go unconscious. But afterwards it was more the sheer relief of all that pressure, you know, all that disbelief, all that negativity. It was just a massive, that was a full year of pent up aggression, negativity, hatred and it all just got released in that, in that one, one like split second. So it was, it was a very surreal sort of moment. It was like every, my whole life built up to that moment, you know, and in, in a bit like Roger Bannister. Roger Bannister did the four minute mile claps. Nearly died and go back and watch it. Yeah. Like literally nearly died. And now there's people running it like it's nothing. Yeah, but it's that boundary, isn't it? If you've got that boundary to, to, to bust through, then you've got so much more mental pressure and I think that makes it so much more harder but also so much more relieving. Sam.