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素食大力士舉起550公斤
[2013-09-09]
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綜合報道
近年流行健康素食，但素食者不一定體弱。創下舉鐵管及啤酒桶世界紀錄的34歲德國大力士Patrik Baboumian素食多年，昨以一身有力肌肉，成功舉起逾550公斤重的健身軛﹙Yoke﹚並步行10米，展示出「素食主義者力量」（Vegan power）。
Baboumian昨在湖濱中心（Harbourfront Centre）多倫多素食美食節（Vegetarian Food Festival）中表演，在台上舉起逾550公斤重、以大鐵框附着的健身軛，並在台上步行。主辦單位指，該重量相等於一匹成年馬匹，是有使以來最重的負載重量。Baboumian在完成表演後，氣喘地向台下數百名觀眾說：「做這樣的事有點笨，真的會受傷。」但他指重點是可啟發民眾，並打破男子漢需要進食大量肉類的常規。
因同情心拒食動物
外型像電影變種特攻（X-Men）的狼人般的Baboumian是一位動物愛好者，2006年開始食素，至2011年被冠以德國大力士稱號後不久，因受同情心驅使認為只停止吃動物並不足夠，進一步成為全素食者。
Baboumian在7歲時由伊朗移民至歐洲國家，年青時在德國開始健身，因他在伊朗革命並升溫至兩伊戰爭期間出生，兒時沒有安全感。他說：「當不斷有爆炸發生，看到很多周圍的人在尖叫，但因為年紀細而不能做甚麼，只想擺脫這個情況，及變得強壯。」Baboumian其後與多位著名素食者包括終極搏擊比賽（UFC）冠軍James Wilks、前冰球員Georges Laraque及超級馬拉松跑手Rich Roll接受台下觀眾提問。
Vegan strongman shoulders 550 kg — a record, perhaps — at vegetarian food fest
Patrik Baboumian — beefy only in one sense — tells audience of hundreds that strong men don’t need to eat meat.
DAVID COOPER / TORONTO STAR
Vegan strongman Patrik Baboumian breaks a world record by carrying 550 kilos 10 metres on the West Jet stage at the Harbourfront Centre on Sunday.
Moments after apparently carrying more weight than anyone ever before, German strongman Patrik Baboumian let out a roar and a couple seemingly unlikely words: “Vegan power.”
The 34-year-old, who already holds world records for log lifts and overhead beer keg lifts, carried a yoke loaded with just over 550 kilograms 10 metres across a stage at the Harbourfront Centre on Sunday afternoon — at Toronto’sVegetarian Food Festival.
According to organizers, it’s the heaviest load ever carried — equivalent to a large horse. (Guinness World Records spokesperson Sara Wilcox said the attempt was for a new record category, “heaviest yoke carry travelling 10 metres,” adding that Guinness can't verify the record until it receives documentation.) “It’s a bit stupid to do things like that, it really hurts,” a breathless Baboumian said to the audience of several hundred afterward. But, the point is to inspire people and break stereotypes that tough guys need to eat a lot of meat, he said.
Baboumian, a longtime animal lover, became a vegetarian in 2006, he told the Star before the event.
“One day, I just thought, if you see a bird with a broken leg, you really have the urge to do something about it and help the bird,” said Baboumian, wearing a T-shirt that read, “I am a vegan badass” and sporting mutton chops vaguely reminiscent of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine from the X-Men films.
“Then, at the same time, you go to a restaurant and eat a chicken or something. It doesn’t make any sense.”
In 2011, shortly after being named Germany’s strongest man, he went full-out vegan.
“I just realized that if it’s really compassion that drives you, maybe it’s not enough just to stop eating animals but you maybe should boycott the whole animal industry, because … it’s not what you as a compassionate being would want. So actually you should go one step further and become vegan.”
Baboumian began bodybuilding as a young man in Germany after immigrating to the European country from Iran at age 7. He attributes his desire to be strong to the insecurity he experienced as a boy, born during the Iranian Revolution and raised through the Iran-Iraq War.
“When bombing is going on, you see a lot of people screaming around you and you can’t do anything if you’re small,” he said. “You just want to break out of that and be strong.”
The German strongman was joined on stage afterward for a Q&A with some other notable vegan tough guys, including retired UFC champ James Wilks, former NHLerGeorges Laraque and ultra-marathon star Rich Roll.