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On the weekend the final season of Game of Thrones premiered on HBO, a big piece of news emerged about the show’s “Mountain.”
Strongman Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who plays the gigantic character on the show, admitted in an interview with ESPN’s E:60 which aired Sunday that he had taken steroids over the course of his career.
Björnsson, the reigning World’s Strongest Man, did not elaborate on what sort of performance-enhancing drugs he used or when he had used them. He also did not reveal if he is still taking steroids in order to maintain an edge.
“When you want to be the best, you do whatever it takes,” Björnsson said during the interview.
Though the World’s Strongest Man contest prohibits the use of PEDs and does do some sort of testing for them, Björnsson said he has never failed a drug test during competition.
Steroid use was linked to the death of Jon Pall Sigmarsson, a four-time strongman world champion from Iceland who died at the age of 32 while training. Björnsson is aware of the connection.
“When you are putting yourself through all this,” Björnsson said. “I’ve always thought about, ‘What if I pass away?’ It would be very hard to know that I left my family too soon. I want to be there for my family. I want to be there for my daughter. But this is my life. This is what I enjoy to do.”
A native of Iceland, Björnsson broke through and won his first World’s Strongest Man title in 2018 after three second-place and three third-place finishes. The 30-year-old is also a five-time winner of the Europe’s Strongest Man competition.
This year’s World’s Strongest Man competition begins on June 13 and, as of now, Björnsson will be there to defend his title.
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