On a stopover in Montreal two weeks ago, during a trip to take part in a weightlifting competition in Ontario, the Icelandic athletes wanted to pay homage to a man who is venerated as a hero among practitioners of the sport.

Cyr, who lived from 1863 to 1912, gained great fame during his lifetime for his feats of strength, such as hoisting a fully-grown male horse weighing three-quarters of a ton off the ground, lifting a platform holding 18 men, and pushing a freight car up an incline. During the 1880s, Cyr served as a constable in the Montreal police force and patrolled St. Henri as part of his duties — hence the location of his statue.

Westmount lawyer David Franklin, who is an honourary consul for Iceland in Montreal, had been delegated to escort the weightlifters on a tour of the city. He said the Icelanders made it a point that they wanted to pay a visit to the Louis Cyr monument as a kind of pilgrimage.

"The one thing they wanted to see when they came to Montreal was Louis's statue," he told the Examiner, adding that Cyr is an icon among weightlifters in Iceland.

Franklin said the team was in Canada for a competition in Perth near Ottawa. "They weren't too sure where it was in Montreal," he said about the statue's location. "As honourary consul, I'm often asked to facilitate visits."

Kari Elison, coach of the team, said that three weeks ago, he finished translating Cyr's life story into the Icelandic language. While in Perth, the Icelandic athletes defeated their Canadian weighlifting counterparts.