Died 5 October 1968 | ||
Johannes Josefsson (born 1883) was an Icelandic Glima champion from 1907 to 1908. He is 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".
Jósefsson 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. 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. Jósefsson became a wealthy man from his circus activities and returned to Iceland unscathed in 1927. When he return to Iceland, he invest more than 1 million Krona in Hotel Borg.