Apollon The Emperor of Athletes - LA84 Foundation

IRON GAME HISTORY VOLUME 4 NUMBERS 5 & 6
empty; the sand added another twenty-five; the
filled balls were another forty kilos, and that
brought the total to 155 kilos. In order to test
the weight, Batta attempted to lift the barbell
and thanks to the strength of his hands he succeeded
in budging this phenomenal weight a
little. But Batta admitted that he “tried his
damnedest and that Apollon was in for a hot
time” (those were his own expressions).
The show began around two o’clock.
The theater seats had been removed from the
floor, and the wrestlers and athletes had to perform
in the middle of the audience. The weights
were brought in, and these were close enough
for the audience to touch. The wrestlers were
Félix Bernard, Léon le Faouët; Paul Pons; three
men from Lille and Pierre Cnude, Louis Moury,
and Joseph le Brasseur (one of Batta’s cousins);
a phony wrestler who called himself Rabasson;
and Desnoulez Adophe from Roubaix. The
strongman was Apollon. Batta saw to the placement
of the equipment, for Apollon was still in
his dressing mom where his wife showered him
with encouragement and urged him to have the
energy to prove to Rasso that he was in truth
the strongest man in the world. Nobody needed
to inspire Apollon. He was already sufficiently
agitated. Batta and Pons had put him
in high dudgeon by telling him that little Rasso
was exceptionally strong when it came to lifting
barbells. He had tried Apollon’s weights,
they reported, and it was only a matter of time
before Rasso lifted them, and so on and so forth.
At last, Apollon came on stage, all the
while staring fixedly at the three Rassos who
APOLLON, DRESSED AS A GLADIATOR, WITH HIS WIFE, JOSEPHINE, IN PARIS CIRCA 1892. were seated in the first row near the weights
and barbells. Apollon came forward and
him, “Don’t fool around with all that. We don’t have time to refill
announced to the audience, “Gentlemen, I have been informed that
that barbell. Look. Here’s the key to the locker where we keep the
there are certain strongmen who are desirous of touching my weights.
weights. Go get the solid balls and screw them onto the bar in place
I put them at their disposal, and I will offer a prize of one thousand
of these here. Apollon is strong enough to lift it. At Joigneret’s he
francs to whoever can repeat a single one of my feats. I will begin
lifted 142 kilos. Then, later when he misses his barbell, we’ll have a
by doing a one-handed snatch of eighty-five kilos with these here:
good laugh at his expense.” [Ed Note: the meaning is unclear. If Pons
one weight of twenty-five kilos and three others of twenty kilos
though Apollo was strong enough to lift it, why would he “miss” the
each. All amateurs take note!”
barbell?]
Batta tied the four weights together, and Apollon snatched
Batta was very happy to play a trick on his friend, Apollon,
the eighty-five kilos on the first attempt. He lowered the weights
and he changed the empty balls for the solid ones, and convulsed with
between his arms without letting them touch the ground and then
laughter when he thought of the look on Apollon’s face when he
raised them two additional times into the air. The Rassos watched
picked up the barbell. The bar started out by weighing ninety kilos
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