Roark Posted July 13, 2002 Share Posted July 13, 2002 John Davis, fantastic American weightlifter, and the third man to lift the Apollon wheels overhead, died 18 years ago today. He lifted the wheels on Sep 13, 1949 when he was age 28. Apollon lifted them several times, in my view; Charles Rigoulot lifted them at age 26 on Mar 3, 1930; Norb Schemansky at age 30 (Oct 14, 1954), and Mark Henry lifted the replica wheels at the Arnold Classic this year. I think he was age 30 but I am uncertain of his birthdate. So Norb and Mark remain the only living men to clean and jerk the wheels. [not speaking here of the continental] Davis did not have long fingers/hands so the feat was especially noteworthy for him. He was truly one of the mountainpeaks in the panorama of the world's lifting landscape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mjoynt Posted July 13, 2002 Share Posted July 13, 2002 In my opinion, John Davis was one of the best all-round lifters in history. He excelled in almost every lift. What really impressed me was his curl of 215lbs. at 190lbs. bodyweight! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Reverend Posted July 13, 2002 Share Posted July 13, 2002 Roark, How did Davis develop such colossal gripping power? I mean, to CLEAN Apollon's Wheel must have taken tremendous gripping power. Did he do a lot of thick-bar work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roark Posted July 13, 2002 Author Share Posted July 13, 2002 Davis used an alternate grip (as in deadlift) to begin his clean with the wheels, then when the bell was at the chest he released the knuckles forward hand and grasped the bar for the jerk- wonderful athlete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Euclid Posted July 15, 2002 Share Posted July 15, 2002 So he jerked the wheels with both his palms facing toward him? Like a reverse jerk? Or the opposite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roark Posted July 15, 2002 Author Share Posted July 15, 2002 Both palms facing away- he switched the hand that was palm toward him. There is a link at cyberpump regarding his lift in the News Archive under Jan 14, 2002. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul valpreda Posted July 15, 2002 Share Posted July 15, 2002 Joe, I'm glad you mentioned Davis. He truly was an incredible lifter and athlete. I wish there was video of him in competition available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ike Posted August 4, 2002 Share Posted August 4, 2002 The Apollon Axle lift IS on the web somewhere, I've seen it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ike Posted August 4, 2002 Share Posted August 4, 2002 Its on the Cyberpump website, in the hard training videos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.