The strongest man in the world lived in Belgrade: Nobody can believe that a human being can be so powerful! (PHOTO)

In Belgrade between the two world wars, the strongest men wore the nickname "coasties" because they used to unload cargo ships at the former Sava port, and that manual labor could only be done so by those who have a colossal force.

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The newspaper  "Vreme" in 1937 described "the descent from the throne" of Steve Tomasovic Crni (Black), who failed to pass the steel coffer that sailed from somewhere into Belgrade and weighed 450 kilos. Black had previously been considered to be the strongest of the Amaline people who  worked  this type of physical labor.

Journalists of "Vreme" noted that Steve came to Belgrade from Omish, and that for a full decade was the Amaline in the city.  It was known that, if there was a large load to be carried, he would certainly be able to "overcome" it.

They are building a new bridge over the Sava River

However, the giant from Omish collapsed, and said what no one expected: "I can't".

Everybody was expecting this Goliath to be able to overcome this heavy load, given that he had done so in the past ten years, but this time the sighs of disappointment and compassion were mutually intertwined.

Foto: Vecernje novosti

Ante Matekalo, a journalist who was one of the best reporters in the interwar city, closely followed the epilogue of the story, and the new hero who would overcome the heavy load as he searched amongst the Tetovo natives, of which, there were, as noted by the journalist, some fifty.

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- Shippers have said before that the carriers' were "women, and not people", in an attempt to find a man who would be able to confront the challenge, and finally Bayram Uzeirovic decided to try his hand. Little by little, Bayram crouched under the weight of steel, while his observers hinted that that would "be his tomb." However, as spectators gathered in astonishment, Bayram took the heavy load to its destination - writes Matekalo, and continues.

- Steve the Black accepted defeat with the words:

- My god, he carried it away. After, they said, he went to a kafana "At Sibenik", and drank "crazily" to relieve his grief. He didn't sober up for two days. Along the dock, stories already transpired that a young man from Tetovo had replaced the Dalmatian - wrote Ante.

The public who engaged the Amaline were known as "contractors" and they were, as the journalist describes, "the masters of body and soul" of the lifter.

Foto: Večernje novosti

- They were located to the left side of the Zemun bridge (on the left bank of the Sava), and "contractors" unmercifully ruled their soul - how piteous noted Matekalo.

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The young man from Tetovo, Bayram opened his soul and said how he is a tumbler (wrestler)  is undefeated in his area. He was then 27 years old, and learned the skill in the village of Tenovo near Tetovo with a certain Ismail. Since 1928, the Serbian wrestlers admitted that he deserved the wrestler name.

- Bayram was never defeated. He did not allow them to defeat in the south, even here, on the river. He remembers Bayram's noisy wrestling Parliament. He mentions fairs, assemblies...Nearly twenty tumblers at once, wrestling from dusk til dawn. It was nice, but hard. And here, on the Sava river, here it is more difficult - writes journalist Matekalo.  And says, how an amaline "jokingly" lifted 380 kilos, and managed to deal with a heavier load of more than 400 kilos. He did not describe exactly in which way Bayram did it, given that today's world record in weightlifting is considerably smaller.

This hard manual work made Black and Bayram, at least for a brief period of time into legends, as the most powerful people of Belgrade.

(Telegraf.co.yu/ Večernje novosti)