The Mountain is the strongest man on “Game of Thrones.”
Now he’s the strongest man in the real world as well.
Hafthor Julius Bjornsson took a break from playing Gregor
Clegane, the brutal warrior known as the Mountain, and won
the long-running World’s Strongest Man competition on
Sunday in the Philippines.
Bjornsson, 29, has been a regular in the competition and had
three second- and three third-place finishes over the years,
but had never previously won.
“It’s my passion and my dream to become the world’s
strongest man,” he said in a 2016 profile in which he shared
his workout secrets with The New York Times. “I would like
to win the World’s Strongest Man competition, as you would
win best writer in the world. Is that a title that exists?”
Bjornsson certainly qualifies as a figurative Mountain. He
checks in at 6-feet-9-inches and 400 pounds. But he is far
from the merciless monster he depicts on television. A scene
in which he crushed a foe’s skull with his bare hands
“actually made my heart hurt,” he said in 2014.
The World’s Strongest competition will be shown in the
United States on CBS beginning in June.
Among the events Bjornsson contested this year were the Car
Deadlift, the Truck Pull and a grueling Loading Race in which
he hauled anchors, anvils and other heavy objects.
After the victory, Bjornsson posted a photograph of himself
lifting the trophy on his Instagram account, adding “Want to
thank all of my family, friends and fans for supporting me
along the way.”
The World’s Strongest Man was originally a made-for-TV
American-based event in the 1970s, held at Universal Studios
in California. The first year included another strongman turned
actor, Lou Ferrigno, who played the Incredible Hulk on TV.
Ferrigno placed fourth.
https://www.freshstuffs.com.ng/2018/05/the-mountain-from-game-of-thrones-wins.html?m=1