Ragnheiður Ragnarsdóttir, also known as Ragga Ragnars (born 24 October 1984) is an Icelandic actress and former swimmer, who specialised in sprint freestyle events. She is a multiple-time Icelandic record holder in both long and short course freestyle (both 50 metres and 100 metres). After retiring from swimming, Ragnheiður studied acting and has played the role of Gunnhild on the TV series ''

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

'' since 2018.

Career

Swimming

Ragnheiður made her Olympic debut, as Iceland's youngest swimmer (aged 19), at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. She qualified for two swimming events by attaining B-standard entry times of 26.34 (50 m freestyle) and 56.74 (100 m freestyle). In the

100 m freestyle The 100 metre freestyle is often considered to be the highlight (Blue Ribbon event) of the sport of swimming, like 100 metres in the sport of Athletics. The first swimmer to break the one-minute barrier (long course) was Johnny Weissmuller, in 1 ...

, Ragnheiður finished last in heat three and fortieth overall with a time of 58.47 seconds. In the 50 m freestyle, Ragnheiður almost snared out of triumph in heat five by a hundredth of a second (0.01) behind Luxembourg's Lara Heinz, finishing second and thirty-first overall in 26.36 seconds. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, Ragnheiður qualified for the second time in the same swimming program as the previous Games. She cleared FINA B-cuts of 25.95 (50 m freestyle) from the Dutch Open Swim Cup in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,FINA World Championships The FINA World Championships or World Aquatics Championships are the World Championships for aquatics sports: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. They are run by FINA, and all swimming events ar ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. In the

, she was reassigned in heat three against seven other swimmers, including Hong Kong's

Hannah Wilson Hannah Jane Arnett Wilson (; born 10 March 1989) is a Hong Kong retired amateur swimmer. She is a three-time Olympic swimmer for Hong Kong, having swum at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and 2012 Summer O ...

and Bahamas'

Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (born March 4, 1990) is a competitive swimmer and national record-holder from the Bahamas who has represented her country in international championships, including the Olympics, FINA world championships, and Pan Ameri ...

. She touched out Cyprus'

Anna Stylianou Anna Stylianou ( gr, Άννα Στυλιανού; born May 20, 1986) is a Cypriot swimmer, who specialized in freestyle events. Stylianou made her official debut, as a 14-year-old, at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she placed forty-fou ...

to take the fifth spot and thirty-fifth overall by three hundredths of a second (0.03), in a time of 56.35 seconds. In the 50 m freestyle, Ragnheiður finished fourth in heat eight by 0.13 of a second behind Jamaica's

Natasha Moodie Natasha Moodie (born 8 October 1990) is a Jamaican competitive swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. She was a three-time national record holder and NCAA All-American champion, and a member of the Jamaican team at the 2008 Summe ...

, clocking at 25.82. Ragnheiður failed to advance into the semifinals, as she placed thirty-sixth out of 92 swimmers in the evening prelims. Ragnheiður did not compete at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

as she was pregnant with her son.

Acting

Ragnheiður has said that she always had a passion for acting and after retiring from swimming, decided to study acting. She took an 8-week "Acting for Film" course with

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, t ...

in Los Angeles, which she "loved" and then enrolled for a one-year programme. She graduated in 2015. It was also announced in the 2020 Game Awards that she would star in an animated series based on the popular

Studio Wildcard Wildcard Properties, LLC (trade name: Studio Wildcard) is an American video game developer with offices in Redmond, Washington, and Gainesville, Florida. The company was founded in October 2014 by Doug Kennedy, Jesse Rapczak, Jeremy Stieglit ...

game '' Ark: Survival Evolved'' in 2022 playing the role of Queen Sigrid. Ragnheiður had also starred as Gunnhild on the TV series ''

''.

Personal life

Ragnheiður was married to Atli Bjarnason, a business administrator, from 2013 to 2017. Their son was born in 2013.

References

External links

*
NBC 2008 Olympics profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ragnarsdottir, Ragnheidur 1984 births Living people Olympic swimmers of Iceland Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Icelandic female freestyle swimmers Sportspeople from Reykjavík