Game of Thrones star Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson hefts world's most expensive deadlift
By Dan Selcke
Game of Thrones turned a lot of its actors into celebrities, including Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke and Pedro Pascal. Icelandic actor Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who played the fearsome Gregor "the Mountain" Clegane, took full advantage of the notoriety the show gave him. A professional strongman by training, he wasn't that experienced with acting — he barely had any lines on the show — but at 6'9", he couldn't help but be memorable, and he had a gift for attracting attention, like when he broke a 1,000-year-old Viking record by carrying a 1,433-pound log for five steps at the World's Strongest Viking competition in Norway.
Björnsson took home the title of World's Strongest Man in 2019, the year Game of Thrones ended. Five years later he's still at it, recently partnering with hard drive manufacturer Phison and data storage developer VDURA to deadlift 996 pounds worth of 128-terabyte SSDs. (SSD stands for solid-state drive, which is a device for storing data.) It's not the heaviest deadlift in history, but according to Dextero, it might be the most expensive.
These 128-terabyte SSDs have yet to hit the market, but they'll reportedly cost around $14,000 a pop when they come out. Björnsson lifted 2,303 SSDs. So you do a little math and figure out that he lifted $32,242,000 worth computer equipment. Hence, the most expensive deadlift in history. Thank goodness he didn't drop them.
Björnsson has always seemed like more of an athlete first, with acting as a happy side gig he stumbled into for a while, but he has had other roles since Game of Thrones ended, appearing in Robert Eggers' historical action movie The Northman as the Viking champion Thorfinnr, which fits him well. As the SSD deadlift stunt proves, Björnsson will have no trouble keeping peoples eyes fixed on him, whether he acts again or not.
Next. Courtney B. Vance will replace the late Lance Reddick as Zeus in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Courtney B. Vance will replace the late Lance Reddick as Zeus in Percy Jackson and the Olympians. dark
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