John Lemm Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

John Lemm

Posted on Monday, August 30th, 2021 by John Wood

Another look at John Lemm (in color!), circa 1909, when he had just made his way across the Atlantic Ocean and was looking to take on all comers. Interestingly, Lemm’s manager at this time was William Bankier, The Scottish Apollo.

John Lemm

Posted on Friday, March 18th, 2016 by John Wood

Another look at a very rare picture of wrestler John Lemm, who was also known at “The Swiss Hercules”. With a set of wheels like that, it’s not hard to see why he was one of the first men in history to squat with 500 pounds ~ although it is plain to see that Lemm was pretty impressive all around.

Lemm won a famous 1908 wrestling tournament in London billed as “The Battle of Giants” where he defeated, amongst others, the then title-holder Russian Ivan Poddubny and the great French wrestler/strongman Apollon.

The Great Gama: Lion of The Punjab

Posted on Sunday, March 4th, 2012 by John Wood

The Great Gama: Lion of The Punjab

Ghulam Muhammad, The Great Gama, is the greatest Pehlwan, or Indian wrestler, who ever lived. He is the only wrestler to remain undefeated throughout the course of his entire career which spanned over 5000 matches.

The Great Gama publicly challenged all comers and easily defeated the likes of the American Champion Dr. Benjamin Roller (who he “threw” 13 times in 15 minutes), Stanislaus Zbyszko of Poland, the European John Lemm of Switzerland, and Maurice Deriaz of France. Interestingly, Gotch and Hackenschmidt refused to face him.

Gama’s daily training routine consisted of thousands of traditional squats and pushups… and after seeing him train, many would-be challengers wanted no part. The object Gama is seen holding here was not a piece of training equipment but an ornamental scepter known as a Gurz, the Indian Wrestling version of the Championship Belt.