Cheick Sanou
Cheick Sanou, known as Iron Biby, was bullied when he was young, but he’s turned his weight into his strength.
Now the man from Burkina Faso has set his sights on winning the 2018 World’s Strongest Man competition. The title is currently held by the UK’s Eddie Hall.
Born in Burkina Faso in 1992, Biby as he is fondly called, noticed at aged five that he was different from his siblings due to his weight, and that it was a bit of an issue.
“My mum said I was big from birth – weighing almost 5kg and breathing heavily – not like a baby,” he laughed as he reminisced about his childhood.
Cheick had always been interested in sports and was always an eager volunteer at school. “I wanted to be a sprinter – I had a bit of speed even though I was big,” he told the BBC.
“But whenever I ran, and my body would wobble, the kids at school would laugh so much and point at me calling me ‘Fat Boy’. It was as if I was entertainment to them, so I gave up on that – but I never stopped wanting to be an athlete.”
By the time he was nine, Cheick had become accustomed to being made fun of and bullied.
“I hated myself for being that way – I was the youngest in my class, yet I looked four years older than everyone else, including my older brothers.
“People tend not to be so big in Burkina Faso, and the girls in my year preferred the slim guys too. The older girls would talk to me and be polite, but as soon as I showed any kind of interest, they would decline.”
He endured the abuse without confrontation until his teenage years when he discovered just how strong he was – much to the surprise of an older boy who had been taunting him.
“I was frustrated – I said: “Leave me alone,” and pushed him away, but he flew across the room and he was shocked. I was shocked too, but I knew that day that I had some power – he never bothered me again.”
Even so, he was still fed up. So, when his brother travelled to Canada in 2007, he begged him to send a slimming device he saw in a magazine advert, which promised to make your stomach fat disappear. In 2009, a 17-year-old Cheick was sent to Canada to complete his secondary education. The move brought with it a new determination to lose the weight. He joined the gym on his very first day – but something was about to happen which would affect him for the rest of his life. He was selected as part of the basketball team – and for the first time in his life, Cheick made the cut to be part of something that he really cared about.