Apollon's Wheels

166 kg (366 lb) · 1 11/12 in (49.3 mm) axle · non-revolving · Musée National du Sport

Apollon's Wheels are a pair of railway-carriage wheels fixed to a thick axle, made for the French strongman Louis Uni, "Apollon" (1862–1928). The bar became the most famous challenge implement in France, and its modern copies — sold as "Apollon's Axle" — gave the strongman axle event its name.

At a glance

• Weight: 166 kg (366 lb).
• Axle diameter: 1 11/12 in (about 49.3 mm), smooth, and fixed — the wheels do not revolve.
• Wheels: about 26 in in diameter.
• First clean and jerk: Charles Rigoulot, Paris, 1930.
• Where now: the original is exhibited at the Musée National du Sport in Nice.

Did Apollon lift it?

Popular accounts make the wheels Apollon's signature feat, but there is no good evidence that he cleaned the bar, let alone put it overhead. What is documented is a contest in Lille in 1889 in which Apollon and the strongman Batta used a set of railway-car wheels: Batta could only bring them to his shoulders. Desbonnet's writing on Apollon is the main source for the strongman's career, and it is reprinted in English in Iron Game History (vol. 4, nos. 5–6, 1997).

Who has lifted it

• Charles Rigoulot, Paris, 1930 — the first conclusive clean and jerk.
• John Davis, Paris, 1949.
• Norbert Schemansky, Lille, 1954.

At the Arnold Strongman Classic, on the advice of Terry Todd, the organisers built a replica of the original. Between 2002 and 2009 nine men power-cleaned it and pressed or jerked it overhead: Mark Henry, Mark Philippi, Svend Karlsen, Raimonds Bergmanis, Vasyl Virastyuk, Mikhail Koklyaev, Andrus Murumets, Benedikt Magnússon and Derek Poundstone. Others, including Žydrūnas Savickas, put it overhead after a continental clean, resting the bar on the belly before bringing it to the shoulders.

Apollon's Axle today

IronMind began selling a 2-inch "Apollon's Axle" thick bar in 1994, and Rogue later made one at the original's 49.3 mm. The axle clean and press, the axle deadlift and the axle clean and jerk are now standard strongman events descended directly from this one implement.

See also: Apollon (Louis Uni) · Charles Rigoulot · All implements