"We hope that we a sending a strong message to whoever wishes to see things in a more daring way," Paul Ohl told IronMind.

Paul Ohl is chairman of Fortissimus 2008, a world-class strongman contest that is stirring tremendous interest in the worldwide strongman community. With an eye toward historical accuracy, an emphasis of the athletic rather than the entertainment side of things, an avowedly non-partisan bent, and an unprecedented call for grassroots input, Fortissimus 2008 is off to a roaring start.

As a result of the initial announcements, questions have been pouring in.

"More than 250 reactions were located online, through forums and blogs. Others came by email. The questioning went from Louis Cyr's strength records to the names of the invited athletes," Paul Ohl said. "Given that situation, the FORTISSIMUS 2008 steering committee held a special meeting on Saturday [October 27] in order to address as many questions and issues as possible."

Following is the statement that resulted from that meeting.

"THE FORTISSIMUS 2008 OFFICIAL STATEMENT

1. FORTISSIMUS 2008 will be a Classic of Strength. It will be held over the next three years under the same rules. The number of invited athletes may however increase to ten. In that case, the prize money will increase accordingly. As a matter of principle, the prize money will never be less than 50 % of the total cost of operations.

2. FORTISSIMUS 2008 is an independent, non-profit organization. It operates under the laws and regulations in effect in Canada and Quebec. Its profits, if so, will be reinvested so to favor the increase of prize money for the athletes competing in the coming years.

3. FORTISSIMUS 2008 will not seek the sanctioning of the event. It will however emphasize and seek close cooperation with WSM, IFSA and all National Strength Athletics organizations or federations.

4. FORTISSIMUS 2008 favors the principle of inviting international strength athletes based on their track record over a number of years, mainly those showing top five rankings in at least six international competitions.

5. FORTISSIMUS 2008 is therefore, first and foremost, a world-class sport event. It does not seek to be an entertainment show or an exhibition.

6. FORTISSIMUS 2008, also named THE LOUIS CYR WORLD STRENGTH CHALLENGE, will abide by the general rules of competitions as laid out by both the WSM Super Series and the IFSA. However it will not be influenced at first hand by TV broadcasters' guidelines nor by timetable restraints.

7. FORTISSIMUS 2008 will not tailor its events to favor in any way any competitor. Events will be testing on an even base and to the utmost, brute strength, dynamic power and strength endurance, so that the best all-around strength athlete will prevail.

8. FORTISSIMUS 2008 will appoint a technical board that will account for both the equipment and the related poundages. The preliminary weighing in of all implements will be held in public three months before the competition. The official weighing-in ceremony will be held one day prior to day one of the competition and certified by an independent authority.

9. FORTISSIMUS 2008 will favor the official recognition of strength records established during the course of the competition. Strength athletes around the world will be invited to challenge such records every year, up to 2010, under the same rules and technical conditions.

10. FORTISSIMUS 2008 will be running live as far as media coverage is concerned. All aspects of the competition, including full release of the results, will be made available in real time throughout the world.

11. FORTISSIMUS 2008 will launch its website in a near future and no later than January 15, 2008.

12. FORTISSIMUS is a registered trademark in accordance with the provisions of the Trade-marks Act. A certificate of Registration has been issued by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, an Agency of Industry Canada of the Canadian Government."

"I do salute the attitude of Christian Fennell," Fortissimus 2008 Chairman Paul Ohl said in a statement released to IronMind, referring to the IFSA Managing Director's openness to a potential invitation that was reported here earlier today.


Paul Ohl introduces the back lift at the 2004 World Muscle Power Championships in Dolbeau-Mistassini (Quebec, Canada). Paul Ohl most likely is the world's leading expert on the great Louis Cyr and by virtue of this, he is also uncommonly familiar with the back lift. Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. photo.

"And I would like to recognize the fact that the IFSA World Championships, held in Quebec City in 2005 was, in fact, the highest-prized strongman contest ever, in Canada. I will however remind Mr. Fennell that I was the man who negotiated that amount of money at first hand, bringing a consensus to both parties and making sure that the athletes would be, once and for all, treated the way they had always deserved to be.  I defended other principles with lesser success and this was, back then, the reason why I stepped down. Yet, I will state that the US $ 50000 in prize money announced for FORTISSIMUS 2008, is the highest amount ever guaranteed for a competition in Canada, other than WSM and IFSA Worlds.

As for FORTISSIMUS 2008, I made sure, before getting involved, that there would be no feud, nothing that would impair that sport and its athletes. Our organization boasts the values that had inspired Louis Cyr more than a century ago. And we will stand by that.

FORTISSIMUS 2008 is very much open to an all-out competition for the FORTISSIMUS trophy. As any sport should be. This was the way showed by Louis Cyr and this is the way the torch should be borne on today." 

So, just how strong was the great Louis Cyr? Let's see what leading Louis Cyr expert Paul Ohl says.

In case you are unfamiliar with Paul Ohl, let us introduce him by noting that in addition to being a sports historian, he is a former member of both the International and Canadian Olympic Academy, and most germane to this discussion, his biography of Louis Cyr stands in a class by itself. Ohl is the Chairman of FORTISSIMUS 2008: The Louis Cyr World Strength Challenge, "to be presented near Quebec City on August 2 - 3, 2008."

"Here are the 10 greatest strongman feats performed by Louis Cyr," reported Ohl, who documented them.

"1. In May, 1883, at age 19, Louis Cyr became the greatest stone lifter ever, hoisting from the ground to the shoulder a 517 pounds boulder, in Lowell, Massachusetts.

2. On September 21, 1891, in Montreal, Canada, in front of a crowd of 10 000, Cyr pulled against two teams of horses, total weight of 4800 pounds, arms crossed over his chest, during 55 seconds.

3. On January 19, 1892, at the Royal Aquarium Hall, in London, UK, he performed a right arm dumbbell press of 273-1/4 pounds. In 1896, he did a left arm press of 258-1/4 pounds.

4. On January 30, 1892, at the Royal Albert Hall, in London, UK, he did a right arm dumbbell press of 174 pounds for 16 consecutive repetitions, from a kneeling position.

5. On September 7, 1892, at the Huntington Hall, in Lowell, Massachusetts, Cyr lifted a compound weight of 558 pounds with the middle finger of his right hand.

6. On May 27, 1895, at the Austin and Stone's Museum, in Boston, Massachusetts, Louis Cyr became the first human to backlift over 4000 pounds with a record 4337 pounds held clear from its supports for over 5 seconds.

7. On May 8, 1896, at the Saint-Louis Hall , in Chicago, Illinois, Cyr performed a crucifix hold of ten seconds with a 97-1/4 pounds dumbbell in the right hand and an 88 pounds dumbbell in the left hand.

8. The same evening he became the first human to ever lift over 1500 pounds to the knees (1897 pounds)

9. The same night he became the first human ever to lift over 750 pounds with one hand (987 pounds with the right hand).

10. The same night he pressed and push-pressed a 162-1/2 pounds dumbbell for 36 consecutive times with the right arm."

As reported earlier, Fortissimus 2008 was inspired by the great Louis Cyr and there is nobody in the world we know of who is as qualified as Paul Ohl to speak about the man he describes as, "The legendary figure behind the event."


Illustration of Louis Cyr, photographed in 1892, returning from England with the Fortissimus belt. Courtesy of Paul Ohl and the Louis-Cyr Museum (for the exclusive use of IronMind®).

Paul Ohl told IronMind, "As a tribute to the legendary figure Louis Cyr, the organizers of FORTISSIMUS 2008, have decided to stage for the first time ever a Decathlon of Strength consisting of ten events linking a selected field of world-class strongmen to the traditional roots of strength athletics."

"The sole name of Louis Cyr once shook the world," Ohl said. "He has set a unique stage and showed the way in one flamboyant fashion. One and a half centuries later, such names as Paul Anderson, Jon Pall Sigmarsson, Bill Kazmaier, Magnus Ver Magnusson and Mariusz Pudzianowski are to be praised and recognized as Louis Cyr's legitimate heirs. This is what FORTISSIMUS 2008 will be about: bearing the torch of history one step farther."

IronMind considers it an honor to present, directly from Paul Ohl, an introduction to this towering figure of the strength world:

"The name of Louis Cyr is mythical when it comes to all-time feats of strength. Born in French Canada (now Quebec) in 1863, he is considered by Canadians and many historians of strength as the strongest man that ever lived. He is also recognized as the forefather of strength athletics, having laid the foundations of strongman competitions, its rules, and competed in the first ever event (1886) leading to a national strength title, three years before Eugen Sandow did the same in England.

Cyr, then called the Canadian Samson, was the first strongman to challenge all comers, crossing himself the Atlantic in 1891 to claim and win the Strongest man in the world's title.

Louis Cyr's strongman career lasted for more than 20 years, from 1883 to 1906. Archives reveal that over 1000 feature articles have been written on the man and his achievements, both in Europe (Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia), and in America, from coast to coast in Canada and across 22 states of the USA.

In 1897, The New York Clipper, forefather of the Guiness book of records, credited Louis Cyr with an incredible 50 world records of strength. He held them all.

Unchallenged to the end, Louis Cyr died in Montreal, Canada, on November 10, 1912, from kidney failure also called Bright disease. He was 49."

Paul Ohl, Chairman of the Fortissimus (Louis Cyr World Strength Challenge 2008), has given IronMind a statement that addresses some of the questions that have already arisen about this just-announced strongman contest.

"For the first time ever, a strongman competition will link the past, honoring both a legendary figure - Louis Cyr - and some traditional events. This is why the invited athletes will compete to the end, with no qualification heats to reduce the field.

This will also be the highest-prized competition (financially speaking) ever held on Canadian grounds.

The LOUIS CYR WORLD STRENGTH CHALLENGE is meant to become a Classic. The promoters have therefore made a bid to stage the event for the next three years with an option on a multiyear carry-over.

Invitations to the selected strength athletes will be sent out by the end of November 2007." 

Earlier, IronMind had reported that a major strongman contest set in Canada and honoring the great Louis Cyr was under discussion for 2008, and we have just received confirmation that the contest is going forward . . . The official press release follows.

"It just came out from Quebec City and it will be a blockbuster in the world of strongmen events in 2008. As it will be the year of the 400th anniversary of the founding of historical Quebec, the oldest fortified city in North America, part of UNESCO's patrimonial sites and cradle of the French culture in America as well as the 110th anniversary of the founding of the Louis Cyr's Big Circus, considered as the forefather of Le Cirque du Soleil of world fame, a world-class strength competition will be held in the first days of August 2008.

THE LOUIS CYR WORLD STRENGTH CHALLENGE 2008 also referred to as THE DECATHLON OF STRENGTH:  Held over two days, the competition will host 8 strength athletes (invited on the basis of their track record of the past two years). All expenses paid.

Price money will amount to some $50 000 US.

The winner will be awarded the FORTISSIMUS trophy (this is the Latin word meaning THE STRONGEST), A BRONZE SCULPTURE of considerable value, representing Louis Cyr's one arm dumbell press as performed in 1892 at the Royal Aquarium Hall in London, UK.

First ever, the competition will honour the long tradition of stone lifting with an astounding final event called THE CIRCLE OF STONES.

The competition will be held under the LOUIS CYR BIG TOP, a venue that will be set up to honor the former Louis Cyr circus.

The detailed events, including competition rules, will be disclosed by April 15th and sent out, by May 1st to all competitors."

IronMind will post more material on this contest, as it becomes available, so stay tuned.