3_0_ScanMag_66_July_2014_Text_Svetlana:Scan Magazine 1
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Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Made in Sweden
side but soft on the inside, giving a robust flexibility and a beneficial grip. “The professional lifters using our products are themselves evidence that the formula works – they are world champions,” says Blomberg. Beneficial for all athletes Respected by champions, the Eleiko Sport equipment has started to win over a range of new fans in the past decade, as the sports and fitness industry more generally has started to realise the benefits of traditional lifting and so-called functional exercise. “A lot of elite sports clubs are heavy users of weightlifting, which is massively beneficial to athletes across the board in a number of different ways,” the CEO explains. “We advocate a focus on the basic movements of the body, and exercise with free weights, barbells and body weight.” The gym and fitness sector, too, has recently started opening its eyes to this style of exercise, not least in the form of the new popular fitness regime, CrossFit. “Gyms generally are going through big
changes at the moment, moving away from the more traditional view of static exercise using machines and becoming more playful in their approaches,” says Blomberg. “Crossfit, on the other hand, which is pretty much all about becoming as fit as possible in as many different regards as possible, has given weightlifting a massive boost, and here the barbell is central.” For Eleiko Sport, however, the market is far greater than its wide range of bars and strength equipment. Addressing everyone from personal trainers in Sweden to strength coaches across the globe, Eleiko Education has been up and running for almost 15 years and is now about to expand. The head offices and training centre in Halmstad will move into brand new facilities, and the aim is to create a world-class venue attracting strength and fitness fanatics from all the corners of the globe. “We’re not interested in simply delivering quality equipment,” Blomberg explains. “We want to help teach people how to use it correctly as well.”
Revolutionising weightlifting Having spent years abroad working as an investment banker and business consultant, Blomberg returned to Halmstad two years ago to take over the running of Eleiko Sport from his father, and though he insists that he loved it abroad, he is unmistakably proud to be at the helm of the family business. And indeed, Eleiko takes pride in being at the centre of the advancement of the sport of weightlifting, having designed and distributed the world’s first solid rubber discs in the 1960s and introduced a superior version of rotating sleeves two decades later. “I am determined and excited to be developing the business and help it grow – and, crucially, I’m passionate about the industry,” says Blomberg. From one passionate man to another, via countless World Championships – revolutionising the world of weightlifting, one barbell at the time.
For more information, please visit: www.eleikosport.se
Issue 66 | July 2014 | 29