 Joe "Powerful" Falzon | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |  Maltese |
| Born | November 9, 1932 Zejtun, Malta |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Strongman |
Joe "Powerful" Falzon (1932-2023), was a performing oldtime strongman from the isle of Malta who performed feats of strength shows during the 1960s and 1970s. Falzon was known as "The Powerful" and "The Strongman" and was also known as the strongest man in Malta. [1]
Joe Falzon was born to Joseph and Cetta Falzon in Zejtun, Malta on the 9 November 1932. Falzon was born into a very large family consisting of twenty five siblings in total. [2]
During his younger years Falzon was interested in bodybuilding, eventually becoming a renowned bodybuilder in Malta by the age of 20. Falzon later trained acrobatics, eventually becoming an accomplished acrobat and trapeze artist recognised by the British Acrobatic Association. Falzon would later own a gymnasium in his hometown of Zejtun where he would then train to become a strongman. [3] In his later years Falzon would train mostly at home where he had a gym equipped with weightlifting and exercise equipment. [4]
Falzon started his performing strongman career during the 1960s. At the beginning of his career Falzon began performing with his family and other performers at a number of venues and theatres around Malta and Gozo. [5] During his performances Falzon would perform feats of strength as well as dangerous stunts. Some of Falzon's feats involved him lifting heavy objects with his teeth, blowing up hot water bottles and truck tyres with his breath, pulling vehicles with his hair and spending twelve hours lying on a bed of nails, among other feats. Falzon also performed a pulling feat in which he would pull two buses weighing 8 tonnes each. Falzon also performed with his children in a group called 'The Magnificent Seven' who performed acrobatic shows 24 times a year. Falzon is widely regarded as being one of the first strongmen in the world to pull a full-sized jumbo jet in the 1960s. Falzon was also known to perform feats such as laying on broken glass while being run over by a car and holding two whipped horses from breaking his grip. [6] Falzon also toured the United Kingdom during the 1970s, where in Manchester he managed to push a train weighing over 20 tons. [7]
Falzon died 31 March 2023 at the age of 90. [8]
Marsaxlokk is a small, traditional fishing village in the South Eastern Region of Malta. It has a harbour, and is a tourist attraction known for its views, fishermen and history. As of March 2014, the village had a population of 3,534. The village is also known for the Marsaxlokk Market, which is mainly a large fish market which takes place along the seafront on Sundays, and a tourist market during all other days of the week. Inhabited and well-known since antiquity, Marsaxlokk was used as a port by Phoenicians, Carthaginians and also has the remains of a Roman-era harbour. Originally a part of the city of Żejtun, the fishing village became a separate parish in the late nineteenth century.
Antonio Barichievich, born Anton Barichevich and better known as The Great Antonio, was a Croatian-Canadian strongman, professional wrestler, and a Montreal eccentric artist. Barichievich was born in Zagreb, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Nothing is known about his early life and family aside that according to biographers he started to do menial work by the age of six and could uproot trees by age 12. During World War II, he spent time at the Bagnoli displaced persons camp. He arrived as refugee in Canada in 1945, and established himself in Montreal, Quebec. In the late 1940s, Barichievich made a name for himself with demonstrations of strength, and in 1952 he pulled a 433-tonne train 19.8 metres a feat featured in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Louis Cyr was a French Canadian strongman with a career spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His recorded feats, including lifting 500 pounds (227 kg) with one finger and backlifting 4,337 pounds (1,967 kg), show Cyr to be, according to former International Federation of BodyBuilding and Fitness chairman Ben Weider as stated in 2000, the strongest man ever.
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In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. Today, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, are composed of a variety of events in which competitors have to move the highest weights possible, the winner being the one having the highest tally across all events.
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Siegmund Breitbart, also known popularly as Zishe or Sische Breitbart, was a Polish-born circus performer, vaudeville strongman and Jewish folklore hero. He was known as the "Strongest Man in the World" and Eisenkönig ("Ironking") during the 1920s.
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Emanuel Benjamin Vella, also known as E. B. Vella, was a Maltese schoolteacher and writer. He was born in Mosta on 20 June 1898 to Clement Vella and his wife Carmela née Azzopardi. He was a member of the Maltese Writers Association. He died in Mosta on 2 May 1946. A primary school in Mosta is named after him.
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