Geir Helgemo (born 14 February 1970) is a professional

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player who was born in Norway but is now a citizen of Monaco. Through 2012 he had won three world championships in competition. As of August 2018 he ranked first among Open World Grand Masters and his regular partner Tor Helness ranked second. Helgemo was born in

Vinstra Vinstra is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Nord-Fron Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality. The town is located in the Gudbrandsdalen valley, at the confluence of the Gu ...

, Norway. For several years through 1994 he represented Norway on both its junior and open teams. The juniors won the 1990 European Championship and both teams finished second in the 1993 World Championships. From that time Helgemo played with Tor Helness on the open team, which was always strong and won another world silver medal in 2001. Norway finally won the world team championship in 2007, the biennial

Bermuda Bowl The Bermuda Bowl is a biennial contract bridge world championship for national . It is contested every odd-numbered year under the auspices of the World Bridge Federation (WBF), alongside the Venice Cup (women), the d'Orsi Senior Bowl and the Wu ...

, with a team of six including Helness–Helgemo as anchor pair. At the inaugural 2008 World Mind Sports Games in

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, Tor Helness won the Open Individual gold medal and Geir Helgemo won the silver. Norway's open team won the bronze.

Emigration to Monaco

From 2011 Helgemo and Helness were full-time members of a team led and funded by the

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real estate tycoon Pierre Zimmermann, under a contract expiring in 2016. The team, not yet playing full-time, finished third in the 2010 World Championship and subsequently competed in the European Bridge League open championship. In 2012, all six members of the team became citizens of

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

. In 2017 Helgemo and Helness were both convicted of tax evasion."Helgemo & Helness: Appeal Court Reduces the Sentence

Reporting False Scores - Suspension

Helgemo's team reported a false score (claiming a match was played when it was not to the benefit of both teams) in a match in Norway. All players involved were suspended by the Norwegian Bridge Federation. Three of the players involved, Terje Aa (ACBL # 9027661), Geir Helgemo (ACBL # 4036808) and Jørgen Molberg (ACBL # 8896631) were members of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) and were suspended by the ACBL.ACBL Board of Directors, Minutes of Meeting in San Diego CA, 2009.
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Use of prohibited drugs

On 1 March 2019, at which time Helgemo was the world's highest-ranked player, the

World Bridge Federation The World Bridge Federation (WBF) is the international governing body of contract bridge. The WBF is responsible for world championship competitions, most of which are conducted at a few multi-event meets on a four-year cycle. The most prestigio ...

(WBF) announced that he had been suspended for a year after testing positive for two banned substances in a sample he had provided at the World Bridge Series in

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in September 2018:

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and synthetic

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. The drugs were said to be "not performance enhancing" by Kari-Anne Opsal, the president of the Norwegian Bridge Federation. The WBF is recognised by the

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and therefore follows the

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's rules on which drugs are permissible. The ban, backdated to begin when he accepted a provisional suspension, is due to expire on 20 November 2019. A spokesperson for the Monaco Bridge Federation said: "We regret that a talent such as Geir Helgemo is sanctioned under an anti-doping regulation that is certainly adapted to physical sport but totally unsuitable for brain sport."World number one bridge player handed one-year ban for doping
Retrieved 1 March 2019

Books

* ''Helgemo's World of Bridge: the maestro reveals his secrets'', Geo Tislevoll and Helgemo (High Wycombe: Five Aces, 2000), 102 pp. – biography; translated from Norwegian, * ''Bridge with Imagination'', David Bird and Helgemo (London: Finesse Bridge, 2000), 160 pp.,

Bridge accomplishments

Awards

* Herman Trophy 1999 *IBPA Award (Personality of the Year) 1996 *Le Bridgeur Award (Best Played Hand of the Year) 1997 *Digital Fountain Award (Best Played Hand of the Year) 2003 *Romex Award (Best Bid Hand of the Year) 1999 *Precision Award (Best Defended Hand of the Year) 1991 *Sender Award (Best Defended Hand of the Year) 1998

Major wins

(1) 2007 * Rosenblum Cup (1) 2006 * World Junior Pairs (1) 1995 * World Transnational Open Teams Championship (1) 2009, 2015 *

North American Bridge Championships North American Bridge Championships (NABC) are three annual contract bridge, bridge tournaments sponsored by the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL). The "Spring", "Summer", and "Fall" NABCs are usually scheduled in March, July, and November fo ...

(12) **

Reisinger The Reisinger national bridge championship is held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Reisinger is a board-a-match event. History The event is contested for the Reisinger Trophy ( ...

(4) 1998, 1999, 2012, 2013 ** Vanderbilt (1) 2010 **

Spingold The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. T ...

(2) 2011, 2012 ** Open Board-a-Match Teams (1) 1999 **

Jacoby Open Swiss Teams The Jacoby Open Swiss Teams national bridge championship is held at the spring American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Jacoby Open Swiss Teams is a four session Swiss Teams event with two qualifying a ...

(2) 1997, 2005 **

Blue Ribbon Pairs The Edgar Kaplan Blue Ribbon Pairs (or simply the Blue Ribbon Pairs) is a national bridge championship held at the fall American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The event is restricted to those that have wo ...

(1) 2003 ** Open Pairs I (1) 1998 *European Championships (4) **Open Teams (2) 2008, 2012, 2024 **Junior Teams (1) 1990 *Nordic Championships (3) **Open Teams (1) 2003 **Junior Teams (1) 1989 **School Teams (1) 1987 *Norwegian Championships (34) **Open Pairs (7) 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007 **Club Teams (8) 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2022 **Premier League (12) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2022 **Swiss Pairs (1) 2022 **Mixed Pairs (3) 1995, 2001, 2014 **Mixed Teams (1) 2006 **Junior Pairs (1) 1993

Other notable wins

*Cap Volmac World Top Invitational Pairs (2) 1994, 1996 *Cap Gemini Ernst & Young World Top Invitational Pairs (1) 2002 *Macallan Invitational Pairs (2) 1998, 1999 *Politiken World Pairs (1) 1997 *Hecht Cup (1) 2006 *Generali World Masters Individual (1) 1996 * Cavendish Invitational Teams (1) 2010

Major runners-up

(4) 1993, 2001, 2013, 2023 * Rosenblum Cup (1) 2014 * The Vanderbilt Trophy (1) 2016 * World Mixed Teams (1) 2022 * World Junior Teams (1) 1993 *

(5) ** Master Mixed Teams (1) 1998 **

(1) 1997 ** Life Master Pairs (2) 1996, 1997 ** Open Pairs I (1) 1997 *European Championships (2) **Open Teams (2) 2001, 2014

Other notable 2nd places

* Buffett Cup (1) 2006 * World Mind Sports Games Individual (1) 2008 * Cavendish Invitational Pairs (1) 2010

References

External links

*
The 1997 Le Bridgeur Best Play of the Year
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helgemo, Geir 1970 births Norwegian contract bridge players Monegasque contract bridge players Bermuda Bowl players Contract bridge writers Norwegian emigrants to Monaco People from Nord-Fron Living people Doping cases in sport Sportspeople from Innlandet