When he's not bursting open his opponent's head with his bare hands, The Mountain spends his free time breaking world records.
Hafthor Bjornsson, a 29-year-old Icelandic professional strongman who also plays fearsome warrior Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane on the series "Game of Thrones," set a new record for a raw deadlift when he pulled up 1,041 pounds in the 2018 Arnold Strongman Classic this week. Known as Thor, the 6-foot-9 monster looked hardly bothered by the colossal weight, cheekily nodding with a straight face to the audience as he held up the bar.
"Y'all need to stand up on your feet," the announcer at the competition says as Bjornsson struts onto the stage. "This is more than the world record. This is history being made."
Thor then lifts the 472 kilograms to raucous cheers. Although he grimaces at the start of the lift, the weight appears to roll up smoothly, as if he barely has to make an effort.
The record was a raw deadlift, done with only a belt and straps and not with an assistance suit, so it represents the top of deadlift competition, SB Nation pointed out.
American Brian Shaw followed the performance and tried to shatter the new record minutes after it was made, adding five pounds to the mix. But the bar never made it past his shins, solidifying Bjornsson's feat and perhaps making him even more formidable in the eyes of "Game of Thrones" fans.
Before Bjornsson made his record-breaking deadlift, he made two other lifts in the event, at 925 pounds and 1,010 pounds.
Although he has an athletic career going further back than his acting, with a stint in basketball even before he took up his feats of strength, Bjornsson is most well-known as The Mountain. That warrior, the brother of Sandor "The Hound," fights for House Lannister and strikes fear into the hearts of his adversaries. In the fourth season of the show, he gouges the eyes of House Martell's Prince Oberyn in a battle and then crushes his head so powerfully that it bursts like a watermelon.
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