Olav Bjortomt

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Stein Olav Bjortomt (born 13 December 1978 in Eastbourne) is an England international quiz player and reigning world champion. He is head writer for The Chase.[1] He was the winner of the inaugural 2003 individual World Quizzing Championships,[2] when it was a fledgling event with then only 45 participants (now in the thousands) but won a second title in 2015. In 2009 he won three out of four possible European titles and was runner-up behind Ashman in the singles to become the most successful participant.

Time Out described him in 2006 as a "former child quiz prodigy and a rising star of the quiz world".[3]

Olav Bjortomt
Medal record
Quizzing
Representing England
IQA World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Birmingham Singles
Gold medal – first place 2015 Singles
IQA European Championships
Silver medal – second place 2006 Paris National Team
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Paris Club
Gold medal – first place 2007 Blackpool Club
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Oslo Singles
Silver medal – second place 2008 Oslo Pairs
Silver medal – second place 2008 Oslo National Team
Gold medal – first place 2008 Oslo Club
Silver medal – second place 2009 Dordrecht Singles
Gold medal – first place 2009 Dordrecht Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2009 Dordrecht National Team
Gold medal – first place 2009 Dordrecht Club
Gold medal – first place 2010 Derby Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Derby Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2010 Derby National Team
Silver medal – second place 2010 Derby Club
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Bruges Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Bruges Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2011 Bruges Club
Bronze medal – third place 2012 Tartu Singles
Gold medal – first place 2012 Tartu National Team
Gold medal – first place 2013 Liverpool National Team
Silver medal – second place 2013 Liverpool Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2014 Bucharest Singles
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Bucharest Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2014 Bucharest National Team
Gold medal – first place 2014 Bucharest Club
IQA British Championships
Silver medal – second place 2007 Derby Singles
Gold medal – first place 2007 Derby Pairs
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Staveley Pairs
Gold medal – first place 2012 Lichfield Pairs

National and international titles

After his triumph at the very first World Quizzing Championship 2003 he has not won a medal at the world stage ever since (but always was Top 10). His absence at Ghent in 2004 (when England won the first European Championship) meant he was not selected for the national team until 2006. He should have played in 2007 but travel problems delayed his arrival at the event. Consequently he has only latterly become a regular in the star-studded English national team (comprising all 4 world champions to date (Ashman, Mark Bytheway and Pat Gibson). He is also part of the Broken Hearts ( with Ian Bayley, David Stainer and Mark Grant) quiz team which play in the QLL and have been European Club champions from 2007 to 2009. Bjortomt won the Pairs Championships with partner Stainer in 2009 and has won 21 international medals on aggregate (see medal table). He also holds the title "British Quizzing Grandmaster".

TV appearances

Bjortomt's success on TV has been rather moderate compared with that of his teammates in the national team, and he describes himself as a "choker" (see Q&A link).

He appeared on the quiz show Fifteen to One four times, finishing as a series runner-up in 2002.

He captained the University of Nottingham team to the quarter-finals in the 1999/2000 series of BBC's University Challenge, and according to the credits of the show as of 2012, is currently a question setter. When he appeared on the Channel 4 quiz show Grand Slam in 2003, commentator James Richardson described him as the "Wayne Rooney of the quiz world."

In 2007, Bjortomt competed in The National Lottery People's Quiz and was the first contestant to qualify for the grand final, answering 97 per cent of his questions correctly during the show.

In 2008, he appeared in the quiz programme Battle of the Brains.

On 10 October 2008 he appeared on Mastermind, scoring eight points on questions about West Indies Test cricket, and fourteen in the General Knowledge section, to finish in second place.[4]

In 2008 and 2009 he unsuccessfully competed in Are You an Egghead?, which attempts to find another player to join the existing team.

Personal details

He works for The Times newspaper in London and has set the weekday times2 quiz since July 2005. In 2001 Bjortomt was the joint winner of The Guardian's overall Student Journalist of the Year award. He has a History degree from the University of Nottingham and a Postgraduate Diploma in Newspaper Journalism from Nottingham Trent University.[2]

Bjortomt is currently a question setter for University Challenge.[5]

He regularly appears in amateur productions in his home town Littlehampton, recently appearing as Omar Little in a re-enactment of thirteen of the best scenes from The Wire.[citation needed]

His parents are Norwegian and Filipino. He has two younger sisters and a younger brother.[citation needed]

References

  1. ↑ Radio Times September 13,2015 The Chase question writers deliberately try and make me laugh now, says Bradley Walsh
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ http://www.staffsunion.com/news/article/your_union/1741

External links

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