"When I was 13, I benched 100kg"

Ollie Clarke on his journey from battling anorexia to competing at World's Strongest Man

- By Chalrie Allenby

Ollie Clarke is one of the strongest men on the planet. The 22-year-old from Bishops Stortford was smashing powerlifting world records when he was 15, and has spent the following years competing in powerlifting and strongman events on both sides of the Atlantic. But his journey to the top of the sport didn’t have the best foundations.

Bullied at school for being “quite fat and chubby”, Clarke suffered with body dysmorphia: a mental health condition that caused an obsession with losing weight. Over the years, it developed into anorexia, and it wasn’t until he was old enough to join the gym when he was 11 that a switch was flicked, and Clarke shifted his focus from losing weight and dropping body fat to being as strong as he could be.

From his first set of weights, to dreaming of joining the World’s Strongest Man tour, Clarke shares his journey to becoming a strongman…

When I was in primary school, I was really overweight and bullied because of it. I didn’t want to be fat any more but, being so young, I didn’t have any idea how to diet or exercise safely. I developed some really unhealthy habits and obsessions with losing weight, and over time it developed into anorexia. I was seeing counsellors and doctors, [I was] in and out of hospitals, but nothing really helped until I was old enough to join a gym.