Hafthór Björnsson is the third-strongest human on the planet. But you will most likely know him as ‘The Mountain’ from Game of Thrones, the fearsome behemoth who grabbed the world’s attention in his mighty hands and crushed it. Men’s Health spoke to the herculean father of one at his home in Reykjavik after his morning gym session. But before we start, a little legend…
TO CALL IT MERELY A LOG – NEARLY 10M LONG, WEIGHING 650KG – IS LIKE CALLING A GIANT REDWOOD A TREE
Technically accurate, sure, but not quite doing it justice. Like a giant redwood, the record for carrying this monstrosity has stood for 1000 years. Legend has it that, after 50 men helped him get the log in place, the holder, fabled Viking Orm Storulfsson, managed three steps. On the third step, his back broke.
To call Hafthór Björnsson – over 2m tall and 185kg – just a ‘man’ doesn’t quite do him justice, either. But stood there, the mountainous Icelander looks like an ant beneath a matchstick. He screams to the assembled onlookers – to the gods, to himself – and grasps the thick ropes that bind the log.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the log rises from the scaff old, as a pressure that could grind most vertebrae into dust transfers to Björnsson’s spine. He takes three steps. He feels like his back is going to break. Nevertheless, he takes a fourth step. And then a fifth. All at once, Björnsson releases his grasp and effortlessly vaults the scaffold with an athleticism that belies his frame, crying “history” over and over again at the top of his lungs.
He has taken his indelible place in the strongman sagas. But his eternal spot in the dining hall of Valhalla, alongside the Norse god-king Odin and those fallen Viking warriors deemed worthy of honour, will for now remain unfilled.
In the meantime, Björnsson’s stomach must be sated with a kilogram of steak, and the histories updated. This being February 2015 and not 1015, chief among those is Instagram. “Nothing Can Stop Me!!” he posts alongside a picture of him tearing his T-shirt in two like a bearded, anaemic Incredible Hulk. “Nothing Can Break Me!!”
BRUTE FORCE
この記事は Men's Health UK の May 2016 版に掲載されています。
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