Landskrona Atletklubb (Landskrona Weightlifting
Club)
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.
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