Marja Lehtonen

Marja Lehtonen
Marja Lehtonen
Bodybuilder ♀
Personal info
Born	January 9, 1968 (age 56); Tampere, Finland
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight	On-season:; 114–125 lb (52–57 kg); Off-season:; 140 lb (64 kg)
Professional career
Pro-debut	International Federation of Bodybuilders Professional Division (IFBB) Jan Tana Classic; 2001;
Active	Retired since 2010
Medal record
IFBB Ms. Olympia
Other IFBB Pro League contests

Marja-Leana Lehtonen is a professional female bodybuilder and personal trainer from Finland, born in 1968 in Tampere.

Background

Lehtonen was born in Tampere, Finland in 1968. Always interested in outdoor activities, she joined a sports club in 1983 and became a track athlete. Through training as a sprinter she discovered an interest in weightlifting. After two years of growing interest in bodybuilding, she decided to see if she could compete in the field and entered the Finland National Championship. She won 2nd place in the lightweight category, taking her to the World Championship in Mexico City in 1990, where she finished 7th.

Lehtonen stands 5'2" and competes at a weight of 120 pounds (her off-season weight is 138 pounds). As a teenager she competed as a sprinter before turning to bodybuilding. She gives her best lifts as a curl (EZ-curl-bar) of 150 pounds for eight reps, and a bench press of 242 pounds for two reps^[1]

Bodybuilding career

Marja said she was inspired by seeing muscular track field athletes at a young age to look like them.

She told her friends at gym that after two years she would compete. When she noticed her weight went up fast. This, along the timing and previous comments to her friends, pressured her to compete. She said she came in even ripped at the 2005 Ms. Olympia then at the 2004 Ms. Olympia, in defiance of the so called "20 percent rule", and placed 14th due to that.