Lena Maria Klingvall – An Athlete who Has No Arms

Growing up in Sweden

      Lena Maria Klingvall of Sweden was born with no arms, one healthy leg and one half-developed leg.  When her parents brought her to the clinic for her first check-up, the doctor took one glance at her and exclaimed, “Oh dear!  How terrible!”

      But this was not the attitude of Lena Maria’s parents.  They decided to treat her, as much as possible, as an ordinary child.  As Lena Maria grew up, she says, “I was encouraged, like my brother, to devote myself to occupations in which I was interested.  The result was that basically I was never angry or bitter over my situation, for I did not think of my handicap as something negative.  I always thought that I was like everyone else.  I just did things in a different way.”

      In school, Lena Maria says, “When my class did different things in which I could not participate, I invented ways in which I could participate anyway.  I did not want to spend PE lessons sitting watching on a seat at the side of the room; but playing basketball and handball, for example, was of course impossible without arms.  It was even against the rules!  But I came to understand that I could act as a referee, and so I could move about and take part in the game anyway.”

Taking Up Swimming

      There was one sport in which Lena Maria excelled – swimming.  She had started to swim at age three.  When she was in sixth grade, she and a classmate were selected to represent their class in a swimming race against the rest of the school.  Lena Maria and her classmate won, but she was disappointed later to find out that she had still only been given an average grade in PE on her report card.

      Eventually she was selected to compete on Sweden’s national team for the disabled.  She was assigned a personal coach and began to take part in training camps.  Each day she would swim between 2,000 and 3,000 meters.  She worked to strengthen her normal leg and to develop a smooth and powerful rhythm in her swimming.  She aimed to swim like a dolphin.  Her goal was to compete in the World Games For The Disabled in 1986.  Lena Maria had often dreamed of traveling to other countries, so she was a bit disappointed when she found out that the World Championships would be held that year in her own Sweden, just one and a half hours from her home.  But when she stood three times on the medal platform and received two gold medals and one bronze, she felt satisfied after all.

      The following year she competed in the European Championships in France and won four gold medals.  So now the ultimate athletic goal was clear – she would aim to compete in the Paralympic Games in 1988 in Seoul, Korea.  It would be the first time since the Paralympic Games began in 1960 that these Games would be held in the same city and in the same facilities as the Olympic Games.

A Phone Call Leads to Olympics

      But as Lena Maria concluded another year of training in 1987, she was not at all sure that she could take another year of training leading up to those Games.  With ten months to go, she prayed and told God that in another week she was going to quit.  A few days later, before announcing her decision, she received a phone call.  The caller said that she had been praying for Lena Maria and had felt moved by God to call and encourage her to continue in her swimming.  As a result of this phone call, Lena Maria decided not to quit.

      And so, Lena Maria eventually walked into the Olympic stadium in Seoul, Korea along with 4,000 other disabled athletes from 60 nations.  The stadium was filled with 70,000 spectators.  The Olympic flame was lit once again, music played, and as Lena Maria walked into the stadium, she felt, “it was such a great feeling to be together with so many celebrating and happy people, that I must admit that I was thinking, ‘It will probably be like this when we get to heaven!’”

      The people of Seoul, Korea, and especially many Christians from the churches came out to watch the Paralympic Games and to cheer for the athletes.  In such a “heaven-like” atmosphere, Lena Maria swam to a 4^th, a 5^th, and a 6^th place finish in her three events.

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

      In her autobiography, Lena Maria has reflected on her life as a Christian this way,

“I often think of a few Scripture verses from Psalm 139: ‘You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.  All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.’

Was God with me already at the fetus stage?  Did he think of me before I was born?  Yes, I believe this, and I also believe that to him it is not my looks and my shape that are most important.  The most important thing of all is my relationship with him.  I know that he loves me.  Of course I have wondered many times why there is so much suffering and trouble, sicknesses and disabilities, and there are times when I have been wondering how God can allow such things.  Not that I have any easy solutions, but perhaps it is so because it is precisely the things that hurt us most that shape us as human beings.”

      After the Paralympic Games in 1988, Lena Maria retired from competitive swimming and began a new career as a singer.  She has recorded five CD’s and regularly gives concerts in Sweden.  She has also given concerts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Moscow, Germany, the USA, and many other places.