Roman Virastiuk

Roman Virastiuk was a 17-time Ukrainian Champion in the shot put. In addition to his three Olympic appearances, he competed at the European Championships in 1994 and 2002, winning a bronze medal in 1994, and the World Championships in 2003. Virastiuk was a three-time silver medalist at the CISM Championships (Military World Games), in 1995, 1999, and 2003.

After graduating from a sports career, Virastiuk worked in the youth and sports department in his native Ivano-Frankivsk, and also worked as a sports commentator. In 2015, he joined the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, heading the Department of Olympic Sports. Virastiuk also made a brief attempt at politics. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, he ran for the Ivano-Frankivsk district #84, where he scored 11%, but only placed fourth.

Romann Virastiuk was the brother of Vasyl Virastiuk, a well-known strongman competitor. In 2004 Vasyl won the World’s Strongest Man title. He later left that group and joined the IFSA Strongman organizations. At the IFSA World Championships he was second in 2005 and third in 2006, and in 2007, became IFSA World Champion. He was the first man to win the World’s Strongest Man title and the IFSA World Championship. Vasyl Virastiuk also placed on the podium at the Arnold Strongman Classic for three consecutive years, 2005-07.

Personal Best: SP – 21.34 (2000).