Johannes Josefsson

Jóhannes Jósefsson
Personal information
Nationality	Icelandic
Born	27 July 1883; Akureyri, Iceland
Died	5 October 1968 (aged 85); Reykjavík, Iceland
Sport
Sport	Wrestling

Jóhannes Jósefsson (28 July 1883 – 4 October 1968), also known as Jóhannes á Borg , was an Icelandic Glíma champion, circus performer and hotel owner. He was known for travelling around the world and challenging fighters from different martial arts backgrounds. He wrote an English book about Glima in 1908 titled "Icelandic Wrestling".^[1]^[2]

Jóhannes was born in the north of Iceland in 1883 and became a champion of Icelandic wrestling at an early age. He competed in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1908 London Olympics at the age of 25 and came in fourth.^[3] He then traveled the world, ending up in America with Barnum & Baileys Greatest Show on Earth, where he performed as an unarmed contender fighting opponents even armed with knives. Jóhannes became a wealthy man from his circus activities and returned to Iceland unscathed in 1927. After his return, he invested more than 1 million Krona in the Hotel Borg, Iceland's classiest hotel for many years. Jóhannes ran the Borg until 1960 when he retired.

References

^ "Johannes Josefsson". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^ Gunnar Hansson (7 February 2015). "Þá ætlaði ég að drepa dónann". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 29 October 2023.
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Jóhannes Jósefsson Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2019.