{{Short description|French-Canadian Strongwoman (1865–1920)}} {{Infobox person | name = Marie Sirois | image = Marie Sirois.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 1865 | birth_place = Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, Canada East | death_date = January 20th, 1920 | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = Strongwoman | occupation = The Strongest Woman of the World | citizenship = Canadian }} '''Marie Sirois''' (Septembre 2, 1865 – January 18, 1920), erroneously known as Marie-Louise,<ref name="martin">Martin, Gabriel, « Marie Sirois (1865-1920), femme la plus forte du monde », Montréal, Histoire Québec, 21 mars 2017, vol. 22, no 4, p. 21-25.</ref> was a French-Canadian strongwoman who was promoted as the strongest woman in the world.<ref name=cbc>{{cite news|last1=Linderman|first1=Tracey|title=Marie-Louise Sirois-Cloutier, the strongest woman in the world?|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/marie-louise-sirois-cloutier-the-strongest-woman-in-the-world-1.2986318|work=CBC News|date=March 8, 2015}}</ref>
By age 17, she was noted for having lifted barrels weighing {{convert|115|kg|lbs|abbr=off}}.<ref name= cbc />
After her family moved to Salem, Massachusetts, she married fellow Quebec strongman Henri Cloutier and performed at his gym in Salem.<ref name="massicotte">Édouard-Zotique Massicotte, ''Athlètes canadiens-français. Recueil des exploits de force, d'endurance, d'agilité, des athlètes et des sportsmen de notre race, depuis le XVIIIe siècle'', Montréal, Librairie Beauchemin, 1909, p. 209-215.</ref> She became a professional athlete at age 25 and became known for lifting a {{convert|1,300|kg|lbs|abbr=off}} platform on her back and also restraining a pair of {{convert|635|kg|lbs|abbr=off}} horses in a similar manner as done by Louis Cyr.<ref name= cbc />
Her performance continued even in her later years, such as the 1917 inauguration (when she was 50 years old) of the Montreal monument to George-Étienne Cartier where she lifted alongside strongman Arthur Dandurand.<ref name=Society>{{cite web|last1=Rochon|first1=Johanne|title=The strongest woman in the world|url=http://lepatriote.ca/nouvelles/2013/07/26/la-femme-la-plus-forte-du-monde/|website=lepatriote.ca|publisher=Historical Society of the Haute-Yamaska|accessdate=8 March 2015|language=French}}</ref>
After her death in 1920, she was buried in her husband's hometown of Roxton Pond, Quebec. Her tombstone describes her as "la femme plus forte du monde".<ref name=Society />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sirois, Marie}} Category:1865 births Category:1920 deaths Category:Canadian strength athletes Category:Strength sportspeople from Quebec Category:Sportswomen from Quebec Category:Strongwomen Category:French strength athletes Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States Category:20th-century Canadian sportswomen Category:Sportspeople from Salem, Massachusetts Category:American people of French-Canadian descent Category:American strength athletes Category:19th-century American sportswomen