Iceland review - 2015, Qupperneq 35

ICELAND REVIEW 33
SPORT
PHOTOS BY PÁLL STEFÁNSSON.
WARRIOR WOMEN
How can you possibly lift 150
kilos? Where are all the
muscles?” I ask, stunned at
the powerlifting champion sitting
beside me. While obviously athletic,
with her long dark hair, wearing glass-
es and a shy smile, the petite Fanney
Hauksdóttir looks the perfect girl-
next-door. I never would have guessed
that the 22-year-old is the European
Champion in bench press in the 63 kg
weight category, having lifted 147.5
kg (325 lbs) last August, breaking her
own junior world record. “I don’t
know!” Fanney laughs, a little embar-
rassed at my question. “I was wearing
a bench press shirt; I don’t know how
much that counts.”
“So you never lift raw?” wonders
the young woman sitting to the other
side of me, Katrín Tanja Davíðsdóttir,
world champion at the 2015 CrossFit
Games—held in California in July—
whose record in bench press is 95
kg. “I always lift raw when training,”
responds Fanney. “I was actually so
unused to wearing the shirt that I
failed my first attempt at the lift due
to technical difficulties—I couldn’t
get the bar close enough to my chest.”
NOT ABOUT BEEFING-UP
Katrín points out that it’s not necessarily the people with
the biggest muscles who are the strongest. “It depends on
how efficiently the muscles operate. In CrossFit there are
women with skinny legs who are good at deadlift.” Fanney
agrees: “Some people train and train and you can’t tell by
their muscles, while others get beefed-up immediately.
At first I thought: ‘I can’t practice bench press!’ because I
never wanted big muscles.”
Yet, inevitably, Fanney has proportionally large upper
arms, which can be tricky. “The most difficult thing I’ve
done was buy a dress for my graduation,” she states. “Oh,
and finding jackets,” interjects Katrín. “They may fit
perfectly otherwise, but then the sleeves are too tight.”
Fanney prefers wearing sports clothing. “I’m most com-
fortable that way. Sometimes I have to talk myself into
wearing something else: ‘Ok, today you’re putting on
jeans!’” Katrín nods. “I almost always wear sports cloth-
ing.” For her, the goal isn’t being muscular either. “But the
body adapts and I accept it the way it is.”
STRONG AND BEAUTIFUL
The conversation moves on to the image of women in
weightlifting. “My club, Grótta, is working on changing
the image of powerlifting and getting more girls to enlist.
People think of us as massive,” says Fanney. “When I told
my granny, who is 95, that I was taking up powerlifting,
she nearly lost it. She was incredibly relieved when she saw