IWF120y/25 – 1957: Eleiko, from the kitchen to the fitness centre
It could be a slogan, inviting the most gourmet people to visit their fitness centre from time to time. It is not – it’s the essence of Eleiko’s history, nowadays one of the most renowned barbell companies on the planet. Originally founded in 1928, in the Swedish city of Halmstad (the headquarters of the company are still based there), Eleiko’s initial business was the production of electric appliances for the kitchen, namely waffle irons and toasters. In 1957, one of the factory’s supervisors, an enthusiast lifter, approached the owner of the company with an idea: to produce weightlifting bars. Until then, it was frequent to see training and competition bars breaking due to the material’s fatigue and weakness. Eleiko was already using high-quality Swedish steel for the manufacture of its products, so after some technical developments, the first bars were officially introduced at the 1963 World Championships, staged in Stockholm. The success was immediate and the athletes quickly adhered to this resistant and reliable equipment. In 1967, also by accident, an Eleiko employee had met a weightlifter who was using rubber tires around his plates to reduce the damage caused by the impact of the weights on the floor. The concept was created and the Halmstad Rubber Factory was then implemented. In 1969, Eleiko was certified by the IWF and has since then been present in many top-level competitions and Olympic Games. In 2011, Eleiko celebrated the 1000th World Record achieved with one of its bars.
