Sport Weightlifting Weight 82 kg Height 1.73 m | Role Olympic athlete Name Charles Rigoulot | |
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Olympic medals Weightlifting at the 1924 Summer Olympics - Men's Light Heavyweight 75-82.5 kg Similar Éric Bonnel, Jean Pierre Brulois, Vencelas Dabaya | ||
Charles Rigoulot (1924) | SIMPLEXSTRONG
Charles Jean Rigoulot (3 November 1903 – 22 August 1962) was a French weightlifter, professional wrestler, racing driver, and actor.
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As a weightlifter he won the gold medal in the 82.5 kg division at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Between 1923 and 1926 he set eight official world records. In 1924, he became the first person to clean and jerk more than 400 pounds, using the non-revolving barbells of that time. In 1930, he became the first person to complete an overhead lift of the Apollon Railway Car Wheels, an awkwardly-shaped 166 kg (366 lb) barbell-shaped set of train wheels used by the stage strongman Louis Uni, and the predecessor of "Apollon's Axle".
In 1932 Rigoulot turned professional and worked as a strongman in the circus, an actor and singer in the theater. As a professional wrestler he was billed as "l'homme le plus fort dans le monde" ("the strongest man in the world") and had matches with Henri DeGlane and Strangler Lewis. As a driver, he competed in the 1937 Le Mans race.
During World War II he was imprisoned after hitting a Nazi officer. In 1953 he became sports director at the Cognac Distillery Ricard, he died of heart attack in 1962. His daughter Dany Rigoulot became an Olympic figure skater.
