Game of Thrones: ‘The Mountain’ Bjornsson is officially the World’s Strongest Man and will defend his title in June
- Icelander, a former professional basketball player, will defend his Strong Man title in Bradenton, Florida
- The six-foot-nine, 450-pound behemoth has admitted to taking steroids but doesn’t like to talk about it
Unless you’re living under a rock, you probably know that HBO’s Game of Thrones is in its eighth and final season and has been all the rage from the US to even China, where it has won new fans albeit some of the scenes were censored by authorities.
Chinese fans have tuned in via Chinese technology giant Tencent, who’s been streaming each episode even though some scenes of sex and violence were left on the cutting floor. The fantasy show was broadcast around the world in March.
China has been caught up in the fascination of the epic series that explores the bloody feuds of noble families as they struggle to gain the Iron Throne in a fictional world. Even Chinese Premier Li Keqiang cited the name of the show ahead of a key summit in Dubrovnik, Croatia, where parts of the hit drama were filmed.
One character from the show that is hard to miss is Ser Gregor “the Mountain” Clegane, who is played by Icelandic strongman, Hafthor Julius Bjornsson.
Bjornsson has appeared in the series from the fourth season onwards and continues to play the revered yet feared knight Ser Gregor in the final chapter of the TV epic.
But did you know the 30-year-old Bjornsson is a real-life “Thor” and is officially the world’s strongest man who will defend his title in Bradenton, Florida later in June?
The six-foot-nine (2.06m) Icelander behemoth weighs 450 pounds (200kg). He gained gargantuan size and incredible strength since taking up powerlifting/bodybuilding after a promising professional basketball career was cut short when he injured his knee.
He had played in the top basketball division in Iceland but his life changed forever in 2008 when he met fellow Icelander, Magnus Ver Magnusson, a four-time World’s Strongest Man winner. Iceland has produced several notable powerlifters in the past such as Jon Pall Sigmarsson, another four-time winner of World’s Strongest Man.
With the help of Magnusson, Bjornsson bulked up considerably and within two years, he competed in Iceland’s Strongest Man competition, finishing third in 2010 before winning it every year since then.
He also won Europe’s Strongest Man competition in 2014 before taking it a step further by competing in the World’s Strongest Man, a title he eventually won in 2018 after making his debut in 2011.
Iceland’s mighty Thor also won the Arnold Strongman Classic in 2018. He successfully defended his Arnold title in March in Columbus, Ohio.
“I haven’t lost a competition since 2017 actually,” Bjornsson told The Daily Beast. “I won everything last year and everything this year. It’s going well for me.”
Bjornsson’s feats of strengths are well documented. At this year’s Arnold Classic, he broke the Elephant Bar deadlift world record with a lift of 472kg (1,041 pounds) and his bench (250kg) and squat (440kg) lifts set in competition are the stuff of legend.
However, Bjornsson did have help along the way, admitting to steroid use in a 2017 interview with ESPN’s E:60. “When you want to be the best, you do whatever it takes,” he said.
Asked whether he was still using steroids, Bjornsson declined to answer and replied: “Can we just skip those questions?”
Fast forward two years, Bjornsson suggested he has never failed a drug test.
“I’ve been competing at the World’s Strongest Man competition for the past eight years,” he told The Daily Beast. “I never failed a drug test, so that really answers your question.”
