Strongman Career
Svend competed in one of the 1996 World's Strongest Man qualifying heats and narrowly missed qualifying for the finals. In the 1997 World's Strongest Man contest, Svend qualified for his first of 7 consecutive finals from 1997, 1999-2004(did not compete in 1998). Svend was leading the finals on points, but during the warm-up for the squat event, he tore his hamstring and had to withdraw from the rest of the contest. Svend returned in 1999, finishing in third place, and finished in second place in 2000. Svend finally became victorious at the 2001 World's Strongest Man competition in Victoria Falls, Zambia.
Some of Svend's other notable strongman titles include Europe's Strongest Man 2001, 3 time runner-up at the Arnold Strongman Classic 2002-04, World Muscle Power Championships 2001 winner, and 3 time Norway's Strongest Man in 2003, 2005 and 2006. Svend was the second athlete inducted into the World's Strongest Man Hall of Fame in 2010 as voted by the fans. He has a larger than life personality, and is known for shouting his catchphrase "Viking Power".
Read more about this topic: Svend Karlsen
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)