Norb Schemansky Lifts The Apollon Wheels

Norb Schemansky Lifts The Apollon Wheels
At the turn of the century, the French strongman Apollon introduced his famous challenge weight -- a pair of railcar wheels attached by a thick axle.

The whole affair weighed 366 lbs. but the real challenge laid in the 1.93 inch thick axle which meant that only the strongest pairs of hands would ever have a shot at breaking it free of the ground.

Apollon, who likely had the strongest grip in history, was the only man who ever lifted it for decades...

Many a strongman tried but all failed until the great french weight lifter Charles Rigoulot finally achieved the feat in 1930 after having trained for it over the course of several months.

Nearly two decades later the American weightlifting champion John Davis was able to lift the wheels on his second try (after passing out on his first attempt.)

On October 14th, 1954 another American weightlifting champion, Norbert Schemansky, "cleaned" the Apollon wheels and jerked them three times in succession, thus writing his name (again) in the record books.

---