Landskrona Weightlifting Club History

In the summer of 1930 some unemployed but enterprising young men gathered in an allotment on the island of Gråen just off Landskrona. The result of this meeting was the formation of the Landskrona Weightlifting Club. During the first years the club rented a training hall from the military authorities at the “ Kasernen “which nowadays houses the Museum of Landskrona. During the Second World War the club had to do with an unsuitable training hall in a basement. At last, in 1952 , the Landskrona Weightlifting Club got a training hall of its own in the “Tyghuset” in the centre of Landskrona. To begin with the members had to chop wood for the iron stove which was the only heating source in the training hall. However, this ungrateful work resulted in a legendary club spirit which, still today, permeates the club and the activity in it. After 50 years in the “Tyghuset” the club got a new training hall in the sports centre of “Karlslund” where the European Youth Championship of 2006 will be held during the 23 – 30 of July.

The Landskrona Weightlifting Club has never been a big club if you look at the number of members, except for a short period in the 70s but together the members have performed great achievements both on and outside the platform. The days of glory were in the 50s with many known weightlifter names : Gunvald Holmkvist, Billy Blixt, Bror Gille, Rune Ohlefeld etc who achieved : Nordic team record in 1954, two Swedish  champions in 1957 ( Gunvald and Billy ), Many Swedish junior- and senior records especially by Gunvald, lots of medals at Swedish Championships for seniors, juniors and youths. The club has arranged Swedish and Nordic Championships. The World Champion Team of the USA- the best team in the world- was in Landskrona and competed with lifters like: Tommy Kono , John Davis, Pete George and Dave Shepard. During the 60s the Landskrona Weightlifting club had competition exchange with clubs in Denmark, East- and West Germany and Poland.

During the 70s the club grew in members to a big club with activities like excersise training, power lifting and bodybuilding.The real sport event, weightlifting was threatened. The situation became critical and at the annual meeting of 1979 it was decided to abolish all other activities but olympic weightlifting. This decision turned out to be right because in the beginning of the 80s the club started a concentration on youths and juniors which led to a top level class of lifters. The real enthusiast in the club was the trainer and secretary Rolf Linderoth. Some lifters of the 80s and the 90s were: Göran Broman, Lars-Göran Hansson Eddy Stojanovic, Henrik Åback, Daniel Ljungberg, Anders Fredriksson and Phong Pham who reached the Swedish top level class for youths and juniors.

Together with the association of Skåne –Halland training camps, leader courses and referee trainings are often organized. After the turn of the millennium the Landskrona Weightlifting club has arranged one Swedish Championship (B-level ) and two Junior Championships which were very successful from the organizing point of view. The club of today has about ten active lifters who participate in the activity league of the Swedish Weigtlifting Federation with youth-, junior-, senior and veteran teams. The biggest problem within the sport is most often the lack of leaders but on this point the club in Landskrona is an exception. Most of the time the club has had good leaders who have spent lots of time and work for the sake of the club.

One of the real enthusiasts today is Patrik Helgesson who together with The Swedish Weigtlifting Federation has made it possible to organize the Youth Championship of 2006 according to the well established spirit of the club where every small cog is important to the function of the machinery.