Gerhard van Staden, standing at 6’3″ (1.91 m) and weighing approximately 175 kg (386 lbs) and nicknamed “The Lion King,” is a South African professional strongman whose career spanned from 2010 to 2023. He is a six-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) competitor, participating in the years 2013 through 2016 and again in 2019. His best WSM performance was in 2016, where he finished fourth in his qualifying group. In 2015, van Staden clinched the title of Africa’s Strongest Man, and in 2011, he was crowned South Africa’s Strongest Man.