Gwendolyn Leick is a master of countenance. It’s no coincidence that the retired anthropologist, writer and weight lifter quotes a passage from a poem by Gertrude Stein that refers to this: “If can in countenance to countenance a countenance as in as seen …” Gwen was born in Austria. She went to London in the mid-1970s to write her thesis on Babylonian curses. At the age of 52 the petite woman began to lift weights and has since won a number of international titles. While Gwen is preparing for the European Championship in Azerbaijan with her long-term coach Pat, she copes with unilateral facial paralysis and her third cancer operation.