| Competition Name: | 1981 World's Strongest Man |
| Dates: | 1981 |
| Venue: | Six Flags Magic Mountain |
| Location: | Santa Clarita, California |
| Country: |  |
| Athletes Participating: | 10 |
| Nations Participating: | 4 |
| Winner: | Bill Kazmaier |
| Prev: | New Jersey 1980 |
| Next: | Six Flags Magic Mountain 1982 |
The 1981 World's Strongest Man was the fifth edition of World's Strongest Man and was won by Bill Kazmaier from the United States. It was his second consecutive title. Geoff Capes from the United Kingdom finished second after finishing third the previous year, and Dave Waddington from the United States finished third. The contest was held at Magic Mountain, California.[1]
This was the first World's Strongest Man competition where the Tug Of War did not end the competition. Previously, the four highest scorers after the penultimate event competed in a head to head tug of war battle with the last man standing winning the event.
There were a total of 11 different events used in the competition:
| Name | Nationality | Log Lift | Weight Toss | Truck Pull | Engine Race | Keg Load | Battery Hold | Bar Bend | Squat | Deadlift | Caber | Sumo | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Kazmaier | United States | 10 | 9 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 96 | |
| 2 | Geoff Capes |  United Kingdom | 4 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 88 | |
| 3 | Dave Waddington | United States | 6 | 8 | 9 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 9 | 72.5 | ||||||
| 4 | Jerry Hannan | United States | 8 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 8.5 | 68 | |||||||
| 5 | Craig Wolfley | United States | 8 | 1 | 6 | 18 | 63 | ||||||||
| 6 | Keith Bishop | United States | 7 | 5 | 3 | 20 | 61.5 | ||||||||
| 7 | Stago Piczko |  Netherlands | 8 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 59 | ||||||||
| 8 | Durwin Piper | United States | 2 | 10 | 8.5 | 58 | |||||||||
| 9 | Joe Zaliezniak | United States | 4 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 48 | |||||||
| 10 | Bishop Dolegiewicz |  Canada | 8 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 46 |