An active water polo player (playing as goalkeeper), he was granted an athletic scholarship to study in the United States in 1984. He studied at the Loyola University Chicago from 1984 to 1988, and achieved a bachelor's degree in political science. From 1988 to 1990 he studied at the University of Denver, Colorado, achieving a master's degree in international studies. He later attended the NATO Defense College in Rome from 1996 to 1997. He won the Norwegian championship with the Frogner water polo club in 1992, and has been picked out for the national water polo team.