The final weekend of March brought success for the Robocop chain’s powerlifters. Supplement promoters and distributors Kristiina Reial, Margus Silbaum, Tarmo Mitt, Rain Karu and Kosmar Lempu all won championship gold in Tartu. We caught up with Lempu, who hails from Saaremaa, after the competition.
A moment from a bench press competition two years ago comes to mind. Lempu was unable to show his full potential that time. In the body weight category up to 82.5 kilograms, Peep Päll of TÜ SK won with 147.5 kg, while Kosmar Lempu placed second with 140 kg. The 22-year-old lifter approached this year’s challenges with greater determination. In Tartu, he lifted 150 with ease. His personal best is another five kilograms higher. Kosmar also holds the Estonian junior records in the barbell squat at 260 kilograms and the deadlift at 261 kilograms.
Here is how he recalls getting started: “I was 14 when my friend, lifter Andrus Paju, invited me to the strength sports gym. I kept going back to the gym on Pikk Street in Kuressaare. There was plenty to get excited about and lots of interesting people. My uncle Riivo Vaet was heavily involved in Greco-Roman wrestling. That gave me extra motivation. I weighed barely 50 kilograms then. My results? Well, they were what you’d expect from a lightweight beginner: around 60 in the squat, 45 in the bench press and sometimes 80, sometimes 90 kilograms in the deadlift.”
He made his mark as a junior winner at the Estonian Championships in 1997.-1998. He is now successfully finding his feet in the men’s competition. Together with Valdo Leps, Erik Teder and Meelis-Edvard Tenmann, he raised the profile of the Saaremaa Strength Sports Club at the team championships in 2000. A former pupil of Saaremaa Gymnasium, he enjoys table tennis and considers improving his computer skills important. He cannot carry a tune, but that does not trouble him much. Although he qualified as a plumber at vocational school, he is now in his second year of working in catering management. He also knows his way around a kitchen. A bachelor. For now.
“Why do I do powerlifting? I think it’s the sport that suits me best. Margus is in a class of his own, of course (he means Silbaum, the World Championships silver medalist), but the other Margus, Reek, and Eero Ilvest are also holding their own. The standard rises every year. The next edition of the Estonian Championships is coming up in May in Peetri, Järva County,” he says.
Author: Arnold Tokko
Pictured: Kosmar Lempu with coach Salu Jaan at the legendary gym in Kudjapää.
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