Michael Van Wijk (born 30 September 1952) is an Indian-born English bodybuilder, professional sportsperson, actor and TV presenter. He is most well known for his role as Wolf on British TV endurance sports game show ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

'', a role he held for all its eight series (1992–1999).

Career

Van Wijk used to run a gym in Hayes in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

originally called Matrix and later 'Wolf's Fitness Centre'. It was open until the late 1990s and included facilities geared towards bodybuilders, boxers and general fitness. In 1987 Michael Van Wijk was chosen to be the cover star to

Palace Software Palace Software was a British video game publisher and Video game developer, developer during the 1980s based in London, England. It was notable for the ''Barbarian'' and ''Cauldron'' series of games for 8-bit home computer platforms, in particu ...

's computer game Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior. In 1989, Van Wijk auditioned for a role in Dances with Wolves. He was unsuccessful but the experience provided him with the inspiration for his ‘Wolf’ persona. In October 1994, he played one match for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

of Gillingham F.C., playing for 73 minutes in a match against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

's reserves before going off injured. The match attracted a crowd ten times the average for the club's reserve team games. After being missing from British television screens for nine years, Van Wijk told '' Loaded'' magazine in April 2008, "I want to come back, I want to be a Gladiator again." ''Loaded'' sent a journalist from London to Wolf's home in Henderson,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, to persuade the actor to return to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to appear in the new series. According to the ''Loaded'' article, today, Van Wijk, 60, is a regular on the Kiwi Cage Fighting scene, and used to compete nationally in

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

championships. He is a twice silver medallist competing against fighters half of his age for the New Zealand title. Most recently he appeared on the Gladiators Legends Special where he took part in alongside Ace, Hunter and Trojan. After ''Gladiators'' ended Van Wijk moved to New Zealand and opened a chain of gyms.

Filmography

* ''

Salome's Last Dance ''Salome's Last Dance'' is a 1988 British film written and directed by Ken Russell. Although most of the action is a verbatim performance of Oscar Wilde's 1891 play ''Salome'', which is itself based on a story from the New Testament, there is al ...

'' (1988) * '' The Bruce'' (1996)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Wijk, Michael 1952 births Living people English bodybuilders British male television actors British television presenters Gillingham F.C. players Male actors from Mumbai Gladiators (1992 British TV series) British people of Dutch descent Association footballers not categorized by position English footballers