Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (Icelandic: [ˈhafθour ˈjuːlijʏs ˈpjœr̥sɔn] ⓘ; transliterated as Hafthor in English; born 26 November 1988) is an Icelandic professional strongman who is widely regarded as one of the greatest strength athletes of all time.[1][2] He is the first and only person to have won the Arnold Strongman Classic, the Europe's Strongest Man, and the World's Strongest Man competitions in the same calendar year[3][4] and holds numerous Strongman titles from multiple strength federations, including multiple world records.[5] With 31 international competition wins, he is the third most decorated strongman in history, behind Lithuania's Žydrūnas Savickas and Poland's Mariusz Pudzianowski,[6] and in terms of pure brute strength and with over 100 world records, many strength analysts and Strongman experts regard Hafþór as "the strongest man to have ever lived".[7][8][1][9]
Hafþór has also appeared on television as an actor, portraying "The Mountain" Ser Gregor Clegane in the HBO series Game of Thrones for five seasons. He is often simply referred to as "Thor" or "the Mountain", the latter due to his Game of Thrones character and his own massive size.[10]
