Lena Berntsson: from the track to the weights

Sweden's Lena Berntsson has just enjoyed the greatest time of her sporting life, finishing fifth in the 60m final at the European Indoor Championships and 12th in the 53kg category at the European Weightlifting Championships in Romania.

Athletics was your first passion and you started competing aged nine. When did you first discover you were fast?
LB: Yes, I was the best in my class at school sports days from a young age.

Where did you get your sporting talent from, mother or father?
LB: My father did some athletics but my father and mother played mainly football and handball. My father played as a forward in the Swedish football third division.

Do you have any siblings who excel at sport?
LB: My sister, Annika, was a pole vaulter (3.65m) and also made the Swedish national team. She does weightlifting now. She performs in the 75kg class and got tenth place in the European Weightlifting Championships in Bucharest.

When and how were you introduced into weightlifting?
LB: I started in about 2002. My sister introduced me to the sport when I was out injured with runner's knee. I thought it would be good to get involved in something else while I was injured.

How did you initially find weightlifting, did it come easy to you?
LB: No (laughs). When I first started I did 50kg in the snatch and 60kg in the clean and jerk. I enjoyed it but I found it was hard. I had done weightlifting before (as training for my athletics) but I had to re-learn the event and change my technique. That was the hardest part. I started to compete in 2005 just before I underwent a tendon operation on both knees.

How did you overcome this?
LB: I kept doing the split technique because that is what I learned from the beginning. To dare to dig deep with the heavier weights was also difficult part.

You started to compete in both sports in 2006 how did they sports complement each other?
LB: The weightlifting, obviously, gave me strength for the sprints and the explosive strength, especially for the starts, although 2006 was not a good year because of the re-hab (from injury). It took me a while to return to the good technique in the running.

What are the main difficulties of training for two sports?
LB: The training is not a problem. I don't train more now because I train for two sports. I just do the weightlifting training at another club, at another facility. The difficulty is with the competitions because in athletics we have two seasons (indoor and outdoor) but in weightlifting there is no season it is about one competition a month. The difficulty is trying to peak for both sports.

How have you overcome that problem?
LB: To peak is in your mind. If you set your mind to it you just tell your body to do it, anyway. I actually work more than 30 hours a week as an occupational therapist and train three times a week (for three hours each) for athletics and two times a week (three hours each) in weightlifting. The sessions are quite long and I would prefer to do more frequent but shorter sessions, unfortunately, my work commitments do not allow for this.

You have two coaches - Anders Palmqvist for track and field and Staffan Bergqvist for weightlifting - do they ever work together?
LB: They mostly communicate with me and I decided what I want to do. They don't always think the same. They have different theories and I decide what is best for me.

What are your long-term ambitions?
LB: Obviously, there is a World Championships in athletics later this year and I would love to qualify for that. It is quite a high goal for me. My PB (in the 100m) is 11.66 - and I need to improve by 0.25 to make it. I also hope to compete in the World Weightlifting Championships in Korea in November, but first I have to qualify. I need 165kg - 5kg more than from my personal best across the snatch and the clean and jerk to qualify.

What do the other athletes think of your weightlifting?
LB: Yes, there are really interested and think it is cool. Mostly the Swedish and Norwegians. The Kallur twins (Susanna and Jenny) are interested - they are quite strong also but they don't train the snatch the same way as we do. They are impressed.

What is your best chance to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics in weighlifting or athletics?
LB: In Sweden to be selected for the Olympic Games you have to have a chance to go to the final. Should I be selected in the 100m at the Olympic Games I have to run 11.15, which is a very high qualification standard. In weightlifting we did not have one athlete qualify at the last Olympics and that will also be hard. (by spikesmag.com)