friman took up wrestling in 1908, and by 1915 became one of the best finnish lightweight wrestlers, together with his clubmate emil väre. because of world war i, he started competing internationally only at the 1920 olympics, where he dropped to featherweight to avoid meeting väre. väre retired soon after that, and friman returned to lightweight. during those years he worked as a butcher and tinsmith, but later, when he became famous and retired from competitions, he was hired as head coach of the finnish and swedish national wrestling teams.