Weightlifter Emily Campbell from Nottingham shone through at this year’s Olympics winning silver in the women’s +87 kg event.
Lifting a total of 283kg into a clean and jerk, the British weightlifter made her Olympic debut, following behind Li Wenwen from china who lifted a new Olympic record of 320kg.
This is also the first time since 1984 that a Brit has won a medal in the sport.
Securing her fourth medal and first Olympic medal, Emily shows all strength and success on the way to Olympic dreams.
Emily, who was born in 1994, has competed in three other major competitions across the world but has only been lifting a bar for the past five years.
She was a university athlete until one day whilst working out in the gym, a friend taught her some snatch and clean and jerk techniques, unknowing it would later lead her to an Olympic medal.
Talking about her weightlifting career ahead of the 2020 Olympic’s Emily had said: “I’m a girl who picked up a bar five years ago to have a go and have some fun.
"Now I’m about to represent my country on the biggest stage in the world. It’s nuts.”
“I fell into the sport,” she said. “I only wanted to get a bit stronger for the shot. Within 18 months of starting weightlifting, I was winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games."
The weightlifter's first major competition was in 2016 where she competed in the English Championships, securing herself a silver.
Later in 2018 at the Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, she competed in the +90 kg event, taking home bronze.
A year later saw Emily in Batumi for the European Championships where she took home another bronze in the +87 kg event.
With a successful year already, she took home gold in the 2021 European Championships in Moscow, again in the +87 kg event.
The Olympic star is coached by Dave Sawyer and Cyril Martin at the Atlas Weightlifting Club.
Media coverage of Emily Campbell was low in the lead-up to the competition instead, having the first transgender weightlifter, Laurel Hubbard making news headlines.
Having transitioned at 35, people suspected she may have an unfair advantage during the competition in the women’s super heavyweight.
However, despite the coverage of the 43-year-old New Zealander, Laurel failed in all three attempts to lift beyond 120kg.
Instead, GB’s, unsuspected weightlifter Emily took over to secure silver, marking history.
