The thrill David Rush felt the first time he beat his brother at something has driven him to more than 180 concurrent Guinness World Records, he revealed.
In an interview with the Washington Post published Monday, Rush, who makes his living giving motivational talks, recounted how he frequently came in second or third when competing against his two older brothers in football, table tennis and swimming while growing up in Boise, Idaho. It was in a swimming race with one of his siblings that he finally turned the tables, igniting in him a competitive streak that he keeps alive these days by staking a claim as the globe’s most prolific Guinness World Record setter.
“I’d grown taller than him, and it was the first time I’d ever beaten him at something,” the 39-year-old told the Post, with regards to that formative day in the water. “I vividly remember being proud of that.”
Rush, who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked for several years in the tech industry before embarking on a motivational-speaking career. He resolved to begin breaking at least some of the 40,000 Guinness World Records because he thought it might be a way to promote the importance of science, technology, engineering and math in education.
He clinched his first record in 2015 by juggling blindfolded for six-and-a-half minutes – a mark he has since extended to more than an hour, as the Post noted.
Other marks he has accumulated range from catching 59 marshmallows in his mouth in less than a minute to balancing 101 rolls of toilet paper on his head. Those marks have drawn enthusiastic support from his wife and three children.
The feats have all been certified either in the presence of a Guinness World Records representative or, more commonly, with volunteer timers and witnesses as well as the submission of videos, photos and paperwork.
In early January, Rush smashed 55 vinyl records in 30 seconds to secure his 181st Guinness World Record, which was recently verified. While Guinness does not track the mark for most broken records, Rush told his 50,000 YouTube subscribers that he knew he had become only the third man to hold that distinction by surpassing Italy’s Silvio Sabba.
Sabba held 180 simultaneous Guinness World Records after about 20 records he had set fell to other people.
As Rush told it to the Post, he knows his record tally is under constant threat, a sobering reality for people whose fame results from mastering tasks like folding – or hanging – T-shirts quickly.
The former contestant on America’s Got Talent said in a recent YouTube video that he has nearly walked away from his obsession with Guinness World Records, which takes up significant time and effort.
Yet he told the Post he intends to fiercely defend the unofficial title he says he has taken from Sabba – and is within striking distance of two other people with more than 100 Guinness World Record titles. That is because he views the Guinness World Records he has targeted not as silly tricks but stimulating challenges, he said.
And, as Rush said to his YouTube viewership, his record conquests also offer “a tangible example” of a larger, human truth.
“If you set your mind to a goal, believe in yourself, pursue it with a passion,” he said, “you can accomplish virtually anything.”
