Eleiko

Eleiko is a Swedish company that designs, manufactures and markets powerlifting, weightlifting and strength training appliance. Headquartered in Halmstad, Sweden, Eleiko products are available in 180 countries worldwide. Eleiko ships 85 percent of its equipment abroad.
Eleiko, founded in 1928 and originally a producer of electric appliances such as waffle irons, produced its first barbell in 1957. In 1963 the company entered the international stage when Eleiko bars were used at the World Weightlifting Championships in Stockholm. More than 1000 world records has been set with an Eleiko barbell since 1963 Through the years Eleiko has presented several groundbreaking innovations.
==History==
Eleiko was founded in the Swedish town of Halmstad in 1928. Initially their main products were electric appliances such as waffle irons and toasters but in 1957 the factory supervisor approached the company’s owner Tyra Johansson with the idea of producing a barbell. The supervisor, Mr Hellström, was himself a keen weightlifter and wanted to tackle the problem of weightlifting bars breaking all the time during competition. Hellström made a bar of a special, hardened kind of steel and gave the knurling of the bar a waffle pattern. The Eleiko bar was introduced in 1963 at the World Weightlifting Championships in Stockholm and it immediately revolutionized the world of weightlifting since the bar could last an entire competition without bending or cracking which had been the case prior to the introduction of Eleiko bars.
In 1963 Marian Zielinski from Poland set the first world record with an Eleiko bar. Since then more than a 1000 world records have been set with Eleiko bars. The 1000th world record was set at the World Championships in Paris in 2011 by Hristov Valentin from Azerbaijan competing in the 56 kg bodyweight category when he broke the world youth record with a lift of 154 kg Clean and Jerk. After the accomplishment Valentin received “The Eleiko 1000th World Record Award” which consisted of a complete Eleiko barbell set.
Four years after the introduction of the Eleiko bars on the international stage, an Eleiko employee met a weightlifter who used rubber tires around his steel weights to reduce the damage and suppress the sound of weights hitting the floor. Shortly after, a collaboration with the Halmstad Rubber Factory was born, a custom rubber mix was manufactured and in 1967 Eleiko’s first line of rubber weights was introduced. The same factory still produces these discs today.
Eleiko was certified by the International Weightlifting Federation in 1969 and has equipped more than 40 World Championships, as well as several hundred continental and regional Championships and Games and 5 Olympic Games. In the 1980's Eleiko introduced a new version of rotating sleeves, which won immediate praise and improved weightlifters’ results by 2-3 kilos.
In 2005 Eleiko partnered with World Para Powerlifting, in 2009 Eleiko became the sole VIP supplier for IPF World Championships. Following increasing interest in Olympic lifting, Eleiko in 2017 launched the SVR Platform. The platform is raised off the floor and consists of layered impacts zones designed to reduce the noise associated with dropped weights during Olympic lifts. The same year Eleiko released a new collection of bars called Next Generation. Equipped with a reengineered, dustproof sleeve for greater longevity, refined knurling that caters for specific users and optimized rotation for performance at all loads – they instantly became widely appreciated in the weightlifting community.
Designed specifically to support deadlifting, the bar Öppen Deadlift was launched in 2019. The bar has an open design and a built-in stand and loading system to give more people the possibility to experience free weight training through deadlifting.
In July 2019 Eleiko signed a five-year contract with the US Army making Eleiko a preferred supplier for the US Army. During the length of the contract Eleiko will provide a range of weightlifting, strength and performance training equipment to morale, welfare and recreation facilities in the US and garrisons around the world. Eleiko has also been selected as the education partner for the United States Navy to further develop its NOFFS program (Navy Operational Fitness & Fueling System), train Navy health and fitness professionals and develop NOFFS Master Trainers.
==Business==
The Eleiko range of products include products such as bars, collars, discs, dumbbells, kettlebells and functional training equipment. 
Eleiko manufacture all bars in Sweden using robotized manufacturing technology. Each bar is tested through a process including a 1500 kg bend test at the center and 2000 kg at the end of each bar. The bar is placed in a vise and bent with a hydraulic jack and the bar must spring back to be exactly straight with a maximum deviation of 0.2 mm. If it fails, the bar is removed from production and scrapped. Every professional bar from Eleiko has a lifetime warranty.
Eightyfive percent of Eleiko’s products are shipped abroad. The company’s main markets are the United States and Germany but beginning in 2017 the company started operations in the UK and in France. In the Nordic countries, Eleiko distributes exercise and strength training machines from other brands.
== External Links ==
* Eleiko’s offical website
* Eleiko on Linkedin
* Eleiko on Facebook
* Eleiko on Instagram
==References==
Category:Sporting goods manufacturers of Sweden
Category:Companies based in Halland County
Category:Companies established in 1928
Category:1928 establishments in Sweden
Category:Halmstad