Louis Cyr was born in Saint-Cyprien-de-Napierville on October 10, 1863. By age 12 he was working in a logging camp in winter and on the family farm the rest of the year, already impressing fellow workers with displays of strength. His unusual power was linked to a notably large maternal family. In 1878 the Cyr family moved to Lowell, Massachusetts, where Cyprien-Noé adopted the name Louis because it was easier to pronounce in English. His strength drew attention there as well; at 17 he weighed 230 pounds, and at 18, in his first strongman competition in Boston, he lifted a horse off the ground. He returned to Québec with his family in 1882, married, then went back to Lowell the following year with his wife to profit from his fame. After being cheated by an organizer during a tour of the Maritime Provinces, he began touring Québec with his family in their own show, La Troupe Cyr. From 1883 to 1885 he worked as a police officer in Saint-Cunégonde on the island of Montréal, then toured with a troupe that included a wrestler, a boxer, and a weightlifter. In March 1886 in Québec City, he defeated Canadian strongman champion David Michaud by lifting a 218 pound barbell with one hand and raising a 2 371 pound weight on his back, winning the title of strongest man in the country. Known then as the Canadian Sampson, he amazed audiences with feats such as lifting 553 pounds from the ground with a single finger and raising 4 337 pounds with his back. Around age 30, he weighed a little under 300 pounds and measured 5 feet, 10 1/2 inches tall without shoes, with especially massive thighs and calves. Having beaten Canadian and American records, he was named North American champion in 1885. In 1889 he lifted 250 kg with one finger, 1 860 kg on his back, and 124 kg over his head with one hand. In December 1891 in a Montréal park before a crowd of 10 000, he resisted the pulling power of four horses tied to his arms. Invited to England in 1892, he won every competition and was named champion of the world, receiving honors that included recognition by the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria. In 1895, at age 32 and at his physical peak, he lifted on his back a platform carrying 18 men with a combined weight of 1 967 kg, then repeated the feat in the United States the following May with an additional 150 kilos. At the turn of the century, when wrestling was a favorite sport among French Canadians in Québec, Cyr defeated Beaupré in Montréal on March 25, 1901, in a match reported as astonishingly brief. In 1904 his health began to decline, worsened by inactivity and weight gain, and although he trained to face Hector Décarie on June 26, 1906, that last major competition ended in a tie. He nevertheless kept his title as the world's strongest man, having remained unbeaten.
