Gunnar Nelson (fighter)
Early life
### Early life

Gunnar was born on 28 July 1988, in [Akureyri](/wiki/Akureyri "Akureyri") in the north side of Iceland but has lived in [Reykjavík](/wiki/Reykjav%C3%ADk "Reykjavík"), the capital of Iceland, almost all his life from early childhood. He played [football](/wiki/Football_%28soccer%29 "Football (soccer)") and [ice hockey](/wiki/Ice_hockey "Ice hockey") in his childhood years. At the age of 13, he started training in [Gōjū\-ryū](/wiki/G%C5%8Dj%C5%AB-ry%C5%AB "Gōjū-ryū") [Karate](/wiki/Karate "Karate") and won the Icelandic Juvenile [Kumite](/wiki/Kumite "Kumite") Championship title in 2003, and again in 2004 and 2005\. He took home medals in every karate tournament he participated in from 2003 to 2005\. In 2005, he was chosen as Iceland's most promising up\-and\-coming karate talent of that year, when he was just 16\. However, he gave up karate to train in [Brazilian Jiu\-Jitsu](/wiki/Brazilian_Jiu-Jitsu "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu") and [grappling](/wiki/Grappling "Grappling") at age 17\.
Gunnar's father, Haraldur Dean Nelson (aka Halli Nelson), is of Anglo\-American and Icelandic descent. He is also Gunnar's manager. Gunnar's mother, Guðrún Hulda Gunnarsdóttir Nelson, is Icelandic. Gunnar has one sibling, a sister named María Dögg Nelson, born in 1992 in Reykjavík. María is an actress in their home country of Iceland.


In what year did Gunnar win the Icelandic Juvenile Kumite Championship title for the first time?