Iceland has held a preeminent position as a nation due to the enormous success of its competitors on the international stage, who between them have won Nine World's Strongest Man titles and numerous other international strongman competitions across all governing bodies, and is often regarded as 'the strongest nation of the world'.

However, in the era of Strongman, Iceland has a record that belies the size of the nation's population, having won everything there is to win in the sport.

In 1983, the young powerlifter and bodybuilder, Jón Páll Sigmarsson entered the 1983 World's Strongest Man competition where he emerged runner-up.

There have also been several highly acclaimed Icelandic competitors, competing across top tier international competitions including Andrés Guðmundsson, Torfi Ólafsson, Kristinn Óskar Haraldsson, Benedikt Magnússon and most notably Stefán Sölvi Pétursson who achieved fourth-place in the 2010 World's Strongest Man competition.

This has only happened on 2 occasions when the legendary Bill Kazmaier of the United States and Regin Vagadal of the Faroe Islands won.

Iceland's Strongest Woman has been held since 1995 through different organizers, but from 2019 onwards Sigfús Fossdal took over and holds the competition annually in Akureyri.

[27] The competition was organized by Hjalti Árnason to commemorate Jón Páll Sigmarsson, and 3 tournaments were held from 2010 to 2012 with the participation of the top athletes of the world.

Iceland was also the venue for one of Giants Live grand prix competitions with the participation of top athletes of the world.