Biography

I was born in Kragerø, Norway, on April 9, 1957.

It was a great place to grow up and I have beautiful memories of my childhood. I spent my childhood in the beautiful coast town in the south of Norway until I was 19. By that time, I moved to Oslo, the capital, and I have been living here ever since except for some years when I returned back to Kragerø and owned a gym.

As a boy, I loved to play in the forest and by the sea in the summertime. By the age of 14, I had achieved championships status in skiing skating and soccer-football. I was always curious to know if there was more. I was not always the biggest kid among my friends but I had always been the strongest.

I was watching television one day when I saw this man that fascinated me with his strength and power but at the same time easy on his feet. This great man was the weightlifter, Leif Jensen. He had won the Olympic gold in weight lifting. From that moment, I decided that I would be like him. Though rich in strength and endurance, I was quite thin. I worked hard and 5 years later I was in the national team of weight lifting. My coach was Leif Jensen and I was very proud because I had taken one step further to reach my dream to become the greatest weight lifter. This was the sport that had it all; technique, strength, coordination, precision and speed. I was very good at it. As a national-level lifter, I placed second in the Norwegian championships and second in the Scandinavian championships. I also competed in the European Championships and in the World Championships. I was in the national team to participate in the 1980 Olympics. Unfortunately, the 1980 Olympics in Moscow suffered that year’s boycott so my dream to participate vanished.

I got involved with muscle flexing quite by accident. All I knew until I was 26 was weight lifting. I hurt by back during work so a friend of mine from the National Weightlifting team, Tage Knudsen, assessed my potential as a bodybuilder. I was never into bodybuilding but as a mean to the end to get well and continue with weightlifting, I decided to enter a gym. I had invested nearly 12 years in Olympic lifting and I had no high thoughts about bodybuilding as a sport. Bodybuilding had nothing of the skills that I admire in Olympic lifting. I had to trade all the skills that I was good at for nothing more than vanity. Hence, I decided to give it a try. My life changed from that day when I stepped into a gym. My dream of continuing with weight lifting drifted away when I realized that it would not be possible to continue with the sport I loved the most. With the base of mass that I had developed over the years, I knew I could do as well as any of the bodybuilders I had seen. Bodybuilding is an incredible strength and endurance sport. There is so much to work with and so much to learn. It did not take a long time before I was encouraged by Harald Skjøldt to enter my first bodybuilding competition. Harald Skjøldt nicknamed me “Animal” and it has been with me ever since. It was a great moment when I won the Oslo Grand Prix in 1981 and the overall title in the same contest. From that day, I decided to take one step further to become a bodybuilder. That was followed with three Norwegian championships in 1984, 1985 and 1987. During that time, I became a gym owner in Kragerø and after three years sold it to concentrate on my career as a bodybuilder. I turned professional after placing second at the 1990 World Championships in Kuala Lumpur. After becoming IFBB pro, I entered the 1991 Night of Champions in New York, where I placed 3rd. It was the best achievement I have had in my bodybuilding carrier. I was the first and so far the only Norwegian and Scandinavian bodybuilders ever to place top three. Throughout the years, I have participated in many competitions in Norway and abroad. After being away from the competition arena for some years, I entered the Master Olympia in 2002 where I placed 3rd in USA.

I now train at Harald’s gym in Oslo. Besides working at Harald’s gym, I run my own personal training, nutrition and coaching business where I use my knowledge and experience to help and teach others to reach their goals. I am also a PTA(Private Trainers Association)Director/Examiner for PROPTA.

I would like to take the opportunity to give a big thanks to my friend, Ronald Eriksen, who has stood by my side all these years. I am also a proud father to my son, Bjarne, who is 20 years old. Last but not least, my enduring girlfriend, that has been a strength in my life.