Apollon Wheels Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Ernest Cadine (Dead)Lifts The Apollon Wheels

Posted on Thursday, March 28th, 2019 by John Wood

Only a handful of legendary strength athletes were able to lift The Apollon Wheels overhead, but several strongmen were able to give it some air time in other ways. Here is a little known shot that few people have seen of Ernest Cadine deadlifting the Apollon Wheels in a pair of wingtips and in his street clothes. Look close, yes, he did have a mixed grip. I wonder if he was in the act of dropping the weight just as this photo was taken or of it’s just a defect in the film — we’ll never know for sure, but Cadine was certainly no slouch in the lifting department.

Chalk and Sweat by Brooks Kubik

Posted on Monday, October 9th, 2017 by John Wood

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Batta

Posted on Friday, March 10th, 2017 by John Wood

Charles Estienne, or or, as he was more commonly known “Batta” was an oldtime strongman famous for his incredible grip strength. Standing at 5’10” and a bodyweight of around 190 pounds, Batta was the only man who duplicated one of the Apollon’s greatest feats: the lifting of four 44-pound blockweights overhead — each tied to a finger of one hand. It was also written that Batta cleaned (but did not jerk) Apollon’s famous railroad wheels – an incredible feat in its own right, but even more so due to his light bodyweight.

Charles Rigoulot

Posted on Wednesday, September 14th, 2016 by John Wood

Charles Rigoulot was one of France’s greatest weightlifters and easily one of the strongest men of all time. He won a Gold medal at the 1924 Olympic Games, Cleaned and Jerked the famous Apollon Wheels and could snatch 255 pounds with one arm. After his weightlifting career, Rigoulot became a professional wrestler and race car driver.

At 24 years of age, his measurements were as follows:

Weight: 230 pounds
Height: 5’7-3/4″
Chest: 49″
Waist: 37″
Thighs: 27-1/2″
Calf: 17-1/2″
Neck: 18-1/2″
Biceps: 17-1/2″
Forearm: 14-1/2″

Schemansky Stalks The Bar…

Posted on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016 by John Wood

From the late 1940’s to mid-1960’s, Norb Schemansky was America’s most successful Olympic Weightlifter and the first weightlifter to medal in four Olympic Games, (despite missing the 1956 games.)

Do you think he means business in the shot above? That’s from the 1964 Olympic tryouts. Here’s a look at Norb Schemansky’s achievements over the course of his amazing career:

Olympic Champion – 1952 Olympic Games, Helsinki
Silver Medal – 1948 Olympic Games, London
Bronze Medal – 1960, Rome, 1964, Tokyo
World Champion (1951, 1953, and 1954)
1955 Pan American Games Heavyweight Champion
Silver Medal – Senior World Championships (1947, 1962, 1963)
Bronze Medal – Senior World Championships (1964)

And best career marks:

Press – 415 lbs.
Snatch – 363 3/4 lbs.
Clean and Jerk – 445 lbs.
Total – 1200 lbs. (400-335-445)

In addition to his weightlifting exploits, Norb also famously cleaned, then thrice jerked the Apollon Wheels.

The Apollon Wheels Arrive

Posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2014 by John Wood

It is fairly common knowledge that on March 3, 1930 Charles Rigoulot attempted, (and of course, subsequently lifted) the famed rail car wheels of Apollon. You probably haven’t seen this one though: on the morning of the attempt, the wheels were delivered to the Voltaire Gymnasium from the museum where it normally resided. Here’s a rare shot of the crew of workmen getting the wheels off the truck and they sure don’t look too thrilled about it… Look closely and you’ll see that they delivered other weights besides the wheels that day.

John Davis: Pinch Gripping

Posted on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013 by John Wood

One of the classic tests of grip strength is to pinch two heavy weight plates together – something that legendary John Davis could do with ease with these York Deep-Dish 35-pound plates. Davis could perform three one-arm chins as well as lift the famed Apollon wheels which also had a very thick handle — needless to say, if you want to be a strongman, it pays to have strong hands…

Ernest Cadine

Posted on Thursday, January 19th, 2012 by John Wood

The French weightlifter Ernest Cadine with a classic globe barbell

Ernest Cadine was a French Weightlifter who won the Light-Heavyweight Gold medal at the 1920 Olympic Games held in Antwerp, Belgium. His winning total was 295 kg (649 lbs.) though the contested events were very different then: the one-arm snatch, the one-arm clean and jerk and the two arm clean and jerk. His performance in these lifts was 70 kg, 90 kg and 135 kg respectively. He also set six World Records over his competitive career.

In 1925, Cadine performed a one-arm swing with 90 kilos which was actually greater than his own bodyweight. Cadine could also right hand snatch 211 pounds and one-hand deadlifted the famous Apollon Wheels.

Also of note is the sand-pit floor — you’ll see this feature a lot in old school physical culture gyms as it made it so globe barbells and dumbbells were not damaged if they were ever dropped.

Charles Rigoulot

Posted on Sunday, August 21st, 2011 by John Wood

Charles Rigoulot

Charles Rigoulot was the last great lifter to forgo shot-loaded equipment in international competition. In fact, he won the light-heavyweight Gold Medal at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, France using a shot-loaded barbell — and was actually the only lifter to use shot-loaded equipment in the contest.

Rigoulot was also the first man to clean and jerk over 400 pounds, lifted Apollon’s Wheels. and broke 57 weightlifting records over the course of his career. One of these records was a one-arm snatch of 261 pounds, which will likely never be broken. Rigoulot was also a very successful professional wrestler and his greatest match was against fellow strongman Milo Steinborn.

John Davis and the Apollon Wheels

Posted on Wednesday, July 20th, 2011 by John Wood

On September 13th, 1949 the American Olympic Weightlifting Champion John Davis succeeded in cleaning and jerking the famous Apollon Wheels. In doing so, he became just the third man to put them overhead, joining the French Champion Charles Rigoulot and Apollon himself. Davis’ accomplishment did not come easy, on his first attempt he passed out in mid-lift!