Louis Cyr
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Louis Cyr, baptised Cyprien-Noé Cyr (October 10, 1863 – November 10, 1912) was a famous Canadian strongman. Cyr never backed down from a challenge and was undefeated in Canada and abroad.
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[edit] Early years
Cyr was born in St. Cyprien de Napierville in Quebec, Canada. From the age of twelve Cyr worked in a lumber camp during the winters and on the family’s farm the rest of the year. He impressed his fellow workers with his feats of strength. According to one of his biographers, his mother decided “he should let his hair grow, like Samson in the Bible.” She curled it regularly.[1]
In 1878 the Cyr family immigrated to Lowell, Massachusetts in the United States. It was in Lowell that, Cyr changed his name from Cyprien-Noé to Louis, as it was easier to pronounce in English. Again his great strength brought him fame. At seventeen he weighed 230 pounds (104 kg). He entered his first strongman contest in Boston at age eighteen, lifting a horse off the ground, the fully grown male horse was placed on a platform with 2 iron bars attached enabling Cyr to obtain a better grip. The horse weighed at least 3/4 of a ton.[1]
[edit] Rise to fame
Cyr returned to Quebec in 1882 with his family and was married. The following year he and his wife returned to Lowell, hoping to capitalize on his fame there. A tour of the Maritimes was organized, and while it may have benefitted the organizer, Cyr made nothing from it. He then began touring Quebec with his family in a show they called “The Troupe Cyr.”
From 1883 to 1885, Cyr served as a police officer in Montreal. Following this he went on tour with a troupe that included a wrestler, a boxer and a weightlifter. He entered a strongman competition in March, 1886 at Quebec City, against the reigning Canadian strongman, David Michaud. Cyr lifted a 218-pound (99 kg) barbell with one hand (to Michaud’s 158 pounds/72 kg) and a weight of 2,371 pounds (1 076 kg) on his back, to his opponent’s 2,071 pounds (940 kg) to win the title of strongest man in the country.[1]
[edit] Reputation as a strongman
While several of Cyr's feats of strength may have been exaggerated over the years, some were documented and remain impressive. These included lifting a platform on his back holding 18 men, lifting a 1000 pound (500kg) weight with his finger and pushing a freight car up an incline. He also beat Eugen Sandow's bent press record (and therefore the heaviest weight lifted with one hand) by 2 pounds to a total of 273 pounds (124 kg). [2]
Perhaps his greatest feat occurred in 1895, when he was reported to have lifted 4,337 pounds (1 969 kg) on his back.[3] Perhaps one of his most memorable displays of strength occurred on the 12 October 1891, in Montreal. Louis resisted the pull of four draught horses (two in each hand) as grooms stood cracking their whips to get the horses to pull harder..[1]
In The Strongest Man in History, Ben Weider says that Cyr's records remain "uncontested and incontestable."[3] Cyr died of Bright's disease (now known as chronic nephritis).[1]
A district of Montreal is named Louis-Cyr in his honour; it is located in Saint-Henri, where he patrolled as a police officer. Both the Parc Louis-Cyr and the Place des Hommes-Forts ("Strongmen's Square") are named after him. Statues of him are located at Place des Hommes-Forts and the Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec City.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e Cyr, C. 2000. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved: 2007-04-24.
- ^ Calvert, Alan "The Secret of the Bent-Press." Super Strength - Chapter 24.
- ^ a b "Canadian Heroes in Fact and Fiction." Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved: 2007-04-24.
Cyr's bent press was subsequently exceeded by several athletes, most notably Arthur Saxon who hold the official bent press record at 336lbs.
[edit] References
- Weider, B. 1976. The Strongest Man in History: Louis Cyr, "Amazing Canadian."” Translation of Louis Cyr, l’homme le plus fort du monde. Vancouver: Mitchell Press.
