Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birth name | Zoë Smith | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | 26 April 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.59 m (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 58 kg (128 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Weightlifting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | –58kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Europa WLC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coached by | Andrew Callard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Updated on 31 May 2019. |
Zoe Smith (born 26 April 1994) is an English weightlifter. In October 2010 she won a bronze medal in the women's 58kg division at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, her first senior international competition, to become the first English woman to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal. Smith competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and finished 12th in the Women's 58kg division. After missing the 2016 Summer Olympics following an injury, she finished eighth in the 59kg at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Zoe Smith was born on 26 April 1994. [1] Smith attended De Lucy primary school in Abbey Wood and Townley Grammar School for Girls in Bexleyheath. [2] [3]
In 2005, aged 12, Smith was training at the Europa Gym as a gymnast. [4] Andrew Callard, who was forming a team for the London Youth Games, was in a different part of the building and was seeking female competitors for weightlifting at the London Youth Games. [4] [5] Smith and some of the other gymnasts tried squats, and, according to Callard, her potential as a weightlifter was immediately obvious. [4] She took up weightlifting and represented her borough, Greenwich, at the London Youth Games. [6] Still aged 12, Smith was rated the fourth-best female weighlifter in the UK. [4]
Smith won at the South East County Championships, her first major competition, and was selected for the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games where she was the youngest member of the English team, and won the gold medal in the 53 kg category. [7] During 2008, she set national records 98 times across junior and senior classes, [7] ending it holding all junior and senior records for the 53 kg weight category, with the exception the clean and jerk record, and, in the 58 kg category, every record that she could as someone aged under 18. The British Olympic Association named her their Athlete of the Year for Weightlifting. [8] [9] At the age of 14 she was the second-ranked UK female weightlifter, behind only two-time Commonwealth champion Michaela Breeze. [4]
Aged 15, Smith finished sixth at the 2009 European Junior Championships, competing against athletes up to four years older, a result that John Goodbody of The Sunday Times wrote "provided further evidence of her immense potential". [10] In October 2010 she won a bronze medal in the women's 58kg division at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India, her first senior international competition, [11] to become the first Englishwoman to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal. [12] She was shortlisted for the 2010 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award. [13] In December 2010, British Weight Lifting paused her £550-a-year funding, [13] arguing that she was overweight and not adequately committed to her training; her appeal against the decision was rejected. [14] Her funding was reinstated in February 2011 after what British Weight Lifting described as "positive changes". [15]
She was selected as the 2011 School Sport Matters Female Pupil of the year, and was a co-presenter for the award to the State School of the Year at the 2012 School Sport Matters ceremony. [16]
In May 2012 Smith was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as part of Team GB. She competed in the Women's 58kg division and she took the British record with a clean and jerk lift of 121.0 kg (266.8 lb). The record previously stood at 119.0 kg (262.4 lb). With a snatch of 90.0 kg (198.4 lb) she was placed 12th in her weight-class with a total of 211.0 kg (465.2 lb).
After winning bronze at the 2014 European Weightlifting Championships in April, lifting 204 kg, she won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July, lifting a total of 210 kg. [17] [18] She travelled for the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships, but contracted a virus and had to withdraw before lifting. [18] Following the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Smith has said, she gained about 10 kg in weight, and having sometimes struggled to keep under 60 kg, she decided on a target weight of 63–64 kg. [18] Competing at a major even in the 63 kg category for the first time, Smith finished ninth at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships. [18]
Smith was a participant in the Channel 4 show Time Crashers (2015), in which celebrities in rereated environments from historical times. [19] In the first episode, which was in an Elizabethan era setting, Smith cried as Kirstie Alley and Fern Britton were peeling the skin from a boar's skull. [19]
She took a bronze at the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships. [20]
By August 2016, Smith held four British clean and jerk records spread across three weight classes. [21] [22] She missed being selected for the 2016 Olympics following a shoulder injury that she incurred at 2015 British Championships. [23] [24]
In 2018, Ben Bloom wrote in The Daily Telegraph that since 2014 Smith had become "a sporting nobody; a beacon of talent that faded away into a foggy memory of seemingly unfulfilled promise". [17] He described how her shoulder injury, the end of centralised funding for weightlifting in the UK, the loss of Smith's sponsors, led to Smith moving back in with her parents and taking a job as a barista. [17] Smith described this time by saying, "It all became too much. I fell into a dark place and my mental health plummeted." [25]
Around 2018, Smith relocated to the Midlands and, having paused her education while training for the 2012 Olympics, joined Loughborough College to study for A-levels in biology, psychology and environmental science. [17]
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Smith took the silver medal in the silver in the women's 63kg category. [17] Going into the competition with a back injury, she was permitted to have an epidural. [17] After a close contenst with Mona Pretorius for second place, Smith prevailed, equalling Pretorius's lift of 115 kg in the clean and jerk after exceeding her lift in the snatch. [17] Bloom commented that "it is time to update those career highlights" on Smith's Wikipedia article. [17]
As UK Sport had decided to cut funding for weightlifting in 2016, Smith launched a crowdfunding appeal in July 2018, seeking to raise £10,000 to help her qualify for the 2020 Olympics. [26] She reached her target, and was selected. [25] She finished in sixth place at the 2021 European Weightlifting Championships (64 kg) in April 2021, [27] and eighth in the Women's 59 kg category at the Olympics in July of that year, [28] two places higher than she had finished in 2012. [29]
She was a guest on the BBC quiz show Question of Sport in March 2023. [30] At the 2023 European Weightlifting Championships she won the gold in Clean and Jerk and the bronze in the 64 kg totel category. [31] She retired from the 59kg competition at the 2024 European Championships after failing a snatch. [32]
She was coached by Andy Callard. [7] Callard nicknamed her "Pablo", after the Olympic gold medal winner Pablo Lara, who had a reputation for being lazy. [33] He also coached her sister Yana Smith for weightlifting at the London Youth Games. [34] In a 2013 piece for The Times , Smith wrote that she liked to eat pizza before the start of competitions, wore make-up during events to help her feel good, and would order more pizza immediately after competing. [35]
Year | Venue | Weight | Snatch (kg) | Clean & Jerk (kg) | Total | Rank | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | Rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | Rank | |||||
Representing Great Britain | ||||||||||||
Olympic Games | ||||||||||||
2012 | London, Great Britain | 58 kg | 90 | 13 | 116 | 121 | 9 | 211 | 10 | |||
2020 | Tokyo, Japan | 59 kg | 87 | 8 | 116 | 6 | 200 | 8 | ||||
World Championships | ||||||||||||
2015 | Houston, United States | 63 kg | 94 | 97 | 11 | 120 | 124 | 9 | 221 | 9 | ||
2018 | Ashgabat, Turkmenistan | 64 kg | 92 | 95 | 14 | 117 | 120 | 15 | 215 | 17 | ||
European Championships | ||||||||||||
2012 | Antalya, Turkey | 58 kg | 85 | 89 | '92 | 4 | 110 | 116 | 4 | 208 | 4 | |
2014 | Tel Aviv, Israel | 58 kg | 86 | 90 | 5 | 114 | 204 | |||||
2016 | Førde, Norway | 63 kg | 93 | 96 | 4 | 116 | 119 | 215 | 4 | |||
2019 | Batumi, Georgia | 64 kg | 92 | 96 | 6 | 122 | 126 | 128 | 224 | |||
2021 | Moscow, Russia | 59 kg | 87 | 89 | 7 | 111 | 5 | 200 | 5 | |||
2023 | Yerevan, Armenia | 64 kg | 90 | 93 | 5 | 119 | 121 | 214 | ||||
British International Open | ||||||||||||
2019 | Coventry, Great Britain | 64 kg | 91 | 94 | 100 | 2 | 120 | 125 | 1 | 225 | ||
Representing England | ||||||||||||
Commonwealth Games | ||||||||||||
2010 | Delhi, India | 58 kg | 80 | 85 | 4 | 103 | 106 | 108 | 188 | |||
2014 | Glasgow, Scotland | 53 kg | 89 | 92 | 112 | 115 | 118 | 202 | ||||
2018 | Gold Coast, Australia | 63 kg | 87 | 90 | 92 | 110 | 112 | 115 | 207 |
Stefan Khristov Botev is an Olympic weightlifter who represented Bulgaria and later for Australia. He was coached by Ivan Abadzhiev. Botev is a two-time world and European champion, winner of the World Cup in 1988 and was voted as Bulgaria's Sportsperson of the Year in 1990. Stefan is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist - once for Bulgaria in 1992 and once for Australia in 1996. Botev is a three-time gold medalist from the Goodwill Games in Seattle in 1990.
Loa Dika Toua is a Papua New Guinean Olympian weightlifter. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Women's −49 kg.
Erika Yuriko Iris Yamasaki is an Australian weightlifter. The daughter of Minoru Yamasaki and Ann Alvisio, she started Weightlifting in 2000, when she was tested in a talent identification program, along with her brother John Yamasaki. Erika first started to represent Australia in 2003 at the Oceania Championships, Niue Island. She has now competed at several international events, including Oceania Championships, World Championships, World Cup, Commonwealth Championships, Pacific and Commonwealth Games.
Christine Girard is a Canadian weightlifter from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. She competes in the 63 kg division. Girard was the first Canadian female to win a medal in weightlifting when she won gold at the 2012 London Olympics. She also won Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games titles in her weight class and has won multiple medals in each of those competitions. She holds the Commonwealth games record and the Pan-American Games record in the Clean and Jerk.
Halil Zorba is a British weightlifter. He represented England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and was in contention for the British team for the 2012 Summer Olympics but was ultimately not chosen for the team despite being British Champion in his weight class. He competes part-time, continuing with his career as a civil engineer.
Helena Wong Kar Mun is a Singapore weightlifter. Wong competes in the female 53 kg weight class. She debuted at the 2010 Commonwealth Games which was held in Delhi in Oct 2010. She made history at the Games by becoming the first ever woman weightlifter to be selected by Singapore to take part in a major athletic event. She was placed 8th at the Games, her first international competition.
Seen Lee is an Australian weightlifter. She won a bronze medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and a silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She represented Australia in weightlifting at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Kuo Hsing-chun is a Taiwanese Amis weightlifter, Olympic gold medalist, five time world champion, two time Universiade champion, Asian Games champion, and five time Asian champion, competing in the 58 kg division until 2018 and 59 kg starting in 2018 after the International Weightlifting Federation reorganized the categories. She has set 11 senior world records in her career.
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu is an Indian weightlifter, supported by OGQ. Mirabai Chanu lifted a total of 201 kg, winning the gold medal at the CWG 2022. She won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Women's 49 kg category. Mirabai Chanu has won the World Championships and multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India for her contributions to the sport. She was awarded the sporting honour Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna by the Government of India in 2018.
Meena Kumari is an Indian weightlifter and Appointed to the post of Inspector in Punjab Police, who placed fifth in the women's 58 kg weight class at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Lasha Talakhadze is a Georgian weightlifter, holding the all-time world records regardless of weight category in the snatch, the clean and jerk, and the total since 2021.
Iryna Mykhailivna Dekha is a Ukrainian weightlifter. She is a two-time Olympian and a four-time European champion.
Sarah Davies is a British weightlifter, competing in the 64 kg and 69 kg categories internationally and representing England and Great Britain at international competitions. She won the silver medal in the women's 71 kg event at the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Maude G. Charron is a Canadian weightlifter, who competes in the 63/64 kg category and represents Canada at international competitions. She is an Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion in the women's 64 kg division. Charron also owns the clean & jerk Commonwealth Games record, the snatch and total Canadian weightlifting records, all the Panamerican records in her weight class.
Emily Muskett is a retired British weightlifter, competing in the 69, 71 and 75 kg categories and representing England and Great Britain at international competitions. She won a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the women 75 kg category, a gold at the 2019 Commonwealth Championships at 76 kg and a silver medal in the 71 kg category at the 2019 European Weightlifting Championships. She has competed in three world championships, including at the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships where she won her only global medal, a minor bronze medalist in the 'clean & jerk'.
Nina Sterckx is a Belgian weightlifter. She is a three-time medalist at the European Weightlifting Championships and achieved 5th place representing Belgium at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.