 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Citizenship | Germany |
| Born | 1887 Heidweller, Germany |
| Died | February 22, 1957 Trier, Germany |
| Occupation | wrestler, weightlifter, strongman |
| Spouse(s) | Susanna Dier(m. 1911) |
Paul Trappen (1887-1957) was a German wrestler and weightlifter, who gained a reputation as the world's strongest man circa 1915.
Paul Trappen was born in 1887 to Ackerers Christian Trappen and his wife Maria Katharina Görgen. As an apprentice butcher, he moved to Trier, where he lived until his death. In 1911, Trappen married the Susanna Dier, the daughter of a Trier bricklayer. Trappen's daughters Anna and Katharina, and his son Josef emerged from the marriage. In the 1920s he began making his living as an innkeeper. [1]
By 1913, Trappen had established a reputation as the strongest wrestler in the German southwest. After winning the German heavy lifting championship, [2] the American circus Barnum and Bailey hired him, but World War I prevented Trappen's career in the circus from starting. [3]
After the First World War, he appeared in variety shows in numerous places for several years, performing great feats of strength. He set a world record lifting 32 people (47.4 hundredweight or over 1,500 kg or 3,300 lb) sitting on a board with his legs while lying on his back. [2]
His most well-known feat was when he stood on a scaffold and lifted up a platform holding two full-grown oxen (total weight: 2,064 kg or 4,550 lb) almost half a meter high on an iron chain. [2]
He won the European heavy lifting championship in 1924. [3]
Although Trappen exceeded the feats of strength of Olympic champions, he was prevented from competing in the Olympics because he had been branded a professional due to his contract with the Barnum and Bailey circus. [3] Paul Trappen maintained his reputation as the world's strongest man longer than any other athlete. [3]
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)(2.1 tons), show Cyr to be, according to former International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness chairman Ben Weider, the strongest man ever to have lived.
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Lifting stones are heavy natural stones which people are challenged to lift, proving their strength. They are common throughout northern Europe, particularly Scotland, Wales, Iceland, Scandinavia and North West England in the area that was once inhabited by the Welsh, now modern day Cumbria. Some of the stones are so heavy that there has been no authenticated lift in modern times, only legend.
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