NEWS
Ortmayer : Natural born stoneman
Koklyaev : A master degree in strength
Sebastian Wenta : All-Around strongman
Andrus Murumets : The Estonian PowerMan
Louis-Philippe Jean :Heart of a lion
Terry Holland: To be or not to be the strongest
Arild Haugen: Viking Power on the rise
Randall J. Strossen: Man with an Ironmind
Stefan Sölvi Pétursson: Keeping the Tradition Alive
Zydrunas Savickas: World Records Breaker
Ervin Katona: A powerhouse from Serbia
Agreement between Fortissimus & ASC
Agreement between Fortissimus & AussiPower
Agreement between Fortissimus & SCL
LOUIS CYR AND EUGEN SANDOW : OF BRONZE AND FAME
From 1890 to the turn of the XX th century, two names had reached mythical proportions: Louis Cyr and Eugen Sandow. The first one, was the strongest man of his era, and, with almost no doubt, the strongest ever, bar none. The other one was the most fascinating, excentric and spectacular of both the old and new continents. A strongman he was, but on the top of that, he could display a physique that painters and sculptors all over Europe sought as their prime model.
Between 1891 and 1897, Louis Cyr was literally chasing Sandow, trying to get the Prussia-born performer, whose real name was Wilhelm Friedrich Müller, to meet his challenge and compete against him in a number of strength events that only Cyr could successfully handle. It all started in England, then in the United States, and it ended up with Sandow avoiding it all, time after time. The showdown never happened. Much later Louis Cyr admitted that this was to be consider as his greatest deception.
More than a century later, both men shared the same glory as they were honoured in the same way. They were casted in bronze. Since 1977, the statuette simply known as " The Sandow " , has become the award of the most coveted title in bodybuilding, the Mr Olympia contest.
And in the 2008, that of Louis Cyr, named Fortissimus , will be awarded to the strength athlete the will win the Louis Cyr World Strength challenge, also called Fortissimus, thus recognizing the Mightiest Man on the planet.
Follows a brief story of the two works of art.HONORING ONE HISTORICAL FEAT OF STRENGTH
In 2003, the Inverness bronze museum ( www.museedubronze.com ), near Plessisville, Center of Québec, chose to commemorate Louis Cyr’s 140 th anniversary and to honor one of his most celebrated accomplishment, the one arm military press
of a 273 ¼ lbs dumbbell, on January 19, 1892, in London UK.( www.fortissimus.net ). They called upon Michel Binette, a well-established sculptor from Montréal, to create the piece of art. In 1979, Binette had sculpted a famous statuette of the legendary Maurice " Rocket " Richard, and, over the years, a number of works of bronze that brought him wide recognition.
The bronze statuette is now a part of the museum’s official collection. However , given the immense popularity of Louis Cyr, the corporation decided on a limited edition of 273 units, one per pound lifted back in London, offered to the public. Each statuette stands 19 inches high, wheighs near 14 pounds, and is individually numbered from 1 to 273. ( for more information: Inverness Bronze Museum (418)-453-2101 ). It is Dr Douglas Edmunds, cofounder of the International Federation of Strength Athletes ( IFSA ) who owns number 273!
Binette had to rely on archives, various illustrations, same from the National Police Gazette of the New-York of 1891, and on Dr Dudley Sergent’s tale of the tape, to render a first world. Dr Sergent, a physical education professor of Harvard University, was the man who took Cyr’s measurements in june of 1895. These figures would eventually make the bronze statuette a unique creation, Binette using them as a scale in order to " bring to life " a Louis Cyr in full action.
THE FATHER OF MODERN BODYBUILDING
In 1891, young Eugen Sandow- he was in his twenties- drew Victorian London’s attention with some strength feats and stunts of his own, performed in famous music-halls on the Strand of the world’s largest city. But he also got the very special attention of one renowned sculptor, Frederic W. Pomeroy. It was that artist who created what is known today as " The Sandow ". He relied on photographs of Sandow, that of Van Der Wiede of London, but he was mostly inspired by Sandow posing nude for him.
The statuette was to reward the three winners of the very first bodybuilding contest of the modern era. It was promoted by Eugen Sandow himself and held at the London Royal Albert Hall, on September 14, 1901. One of the judges being Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes.
The detailed story of the statuette was brilliantly told by Professor David L. Chapman, also the biographer of Eugen Sandow, That story reveals a lot about the where about of the statuette since Steve Reeves earned it as the winner of the 1950 Mr Universe title right to the night it rewarded the 1977 Mr Olympia. Who really owns the original ? What part played Arnold Schwarzenegger in the ordeal ? Was he the man who drew the statuette out of the shadows and on the Olympia podium ?
(www.sandowmuseum.com)
© FORTISSIMUS
