ND's article post notwithstanding, Bertil trained very heavy, very hard and very sloppy.
I never saw him in person but there's plenty of vids of him training out there.
I do think he was judged rather poorly. It seemed to me he should've won or at least placed higher in a lot of shows. Even as an older guy in the early 90's he competed in a few shows and could still outmuscle most competitors. He was definitely ahead of his time.
Could he have beat Haney? No. I never cared for Haneys physique but he was a lot better than he is remembered. I think his rather boring personality has to do with that. But Haney was huge and I think he made Bertil look narrow on stage. Some people have said that Bertil looked like he lacked confidence on stage and he never learned how to pose with confidence.
I also think the bodybuilding world was small back then and word gets around. He was known to be a woman beater even then. People have said his girlfriends always had black eyes. In such a small circle these things are undoubtedly held against you in a subjective sport.
I vaguely remember him.having that reputation. Total dirtbag, but a good bodybuilder nonetheless.
