Tom Stoltman: The world’s strongest man and his Autism

Ethan Brooke, an apprentice with the User Voice and Participation Team, reflects on Tom Stoltman’s strong man career and the experiences he has shared about being an autistic athlete and young person

“Autism is my secret weapon”.

Tom Stoltman after winning WSM 2022

Tom Stoltman after winning WSM (world’s strongest man) 2021

Who is Tom Stoltman?:

Tom Stoltman is the current worlds strongest man after winning the competition in May 2022. He is also the:

2021 Worlds Strongest man
World record holder for the heaviest Atlas stone ever lifted (286kg!),
A two-time back-to-back winner of Britain’s strongest man,
A two-time winner of Scotland’s strongest man along with many other incredible podiums such as 3^rd in worlds ultimate strongman and 2^nd in the 2021 giants live finals.

Tom was diagnosed with autism when he was 8 years old and has spoken about his own struggles inside and outside of school. He has mentioned being bullied and worrying about what people would think if they found out he was autistic.

Tom and, his brother, Luke Stoltman competing and cheering each other on

Tom’s Autism – in his own words.

“I kept autism hidden”

“I didn’t want my mates to laugh at me”

However, he mentions that after telling his friends and others about his autism he felt a tremendous amount of relief after being accepted and supported by them. His friends made sure that he knew they accepted him for who he was and that it didn’t change a thing about their friendship which is truly phenomenal.

Luke Stoltman (Tom’s brother) has also talked about Tom’s experiences and growing up with him when he was younger. Referencing times that Tom would really struggle, he says,

“if mum went out shopping, he (Tom) wouldn’t stop crying till she came back” and that “he wouldn’t go anywhere by himself”

Tom has said that he found it difficult when something didn’t go as planned, as he would become fearful and potentially breakdown. This also wasn’t helped when others would say that it didn’t matter, as this just made him feel very different to his friends and others.

Tom saw a great change in his life when he was first invited to go the gym by his older brother Luke as this was the start of an incredible ongoing career in the internationally competitive arena of ‘strongman’ for both. Tom found comfort in pushing himself in the gym as he mentioned he didn’t get along with the more traditional side of school such as maths and English, but he truly thrived when it came to Physical education and many other sports.

Tom, and his brother, Luke Stoltman after Toms win at World’s strongest man 2021

What he has done for the awareness of autism–

Tom Stoltman has gone on many podcasts, interviews and has personally made videos on him and his brothers YouTube channel. Some of these are linked below. He has been quoted saying phenomenal things such as:

“Autism is my secret weapon” and that it should be

“Used as a superpower”, he has also talked about how that just because he is labelled that it doesn’t make him different. He strives to be an example to other autistic children and show them that they too will achieve incredible things.