Donald Dinnie

Donald Dinnie was a famous strongman and athlete from Scotland born in 1837. During his 50 years long career, Dinnie took part in more than 11,000 competitions.

Donald Dinnie

His career started during 1853 when he won a wrestling competition along with £1 in prize money. Seven years later, Dinnie successfully carried 775 pounds boulders for around 5 yards which marked the beginning of his long-lasting strongman career.

Soon he became an all-round athlete, involved in hammer throwing, caber tossing, wrestling, sprints, long and high jumps and many other disciplines. In 1896, Donnie won seven gold medals at Athene’s Olympics and became internationally famous. He took part in more than 2,000 wrestling matches, 2,000 hammer throwing competitions, 500 running and 200 weightlifting contests, totaling 25,000 English pounds in earnings during his career. That’s an equivalent of $2.5 million dollars today!

Donald Dinnie wearing his medals

Donald also took part in sixteen Highland Games in Scotland, toured the United States in 1870 and won World Champion Wrestler, Scottish Champion and Strongest Man in the World titles.

The Scottish Highland games – engraving from the 19th century

Interested in learning more about oldtime strongman? Check this out.