Zoe Smith
1.59 m (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in)[1]
Zoe Smith (born 26 April 1994) is an English weightlifter. In October 2010 she won a bronze medal in the women's 58 kg 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 58 kg division. After missing the 2016 Summer Olympics following an injury, she finished eighth in the 59 kg at the 2020 Summer Olympics. At the 2023 European Weightlifting Championships she won the gold in Clean and Jerk and the bronze in the 64 kg total category. She failed to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Smith took up weightlifting aged 12, when she was at a gym training as a gymnast and was invited to try lifting; she subsequently represented her borough at the London Youth Games. A few months after her victory at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, her funding was withdrawn as she was deemed to be insufficiently committed to the sport, but was restored a couple of month later. By 2018, a shoulder injury, the end of centralised funding for weightlifting in the UK, and the loss of her sponsorship, led to Smith moving back in with her parents and taking a job as a barista. Smith coaches at a gym in East London.
Early life
Zoe Smith was born on 26 April 1994.[5] She attended De Lucy primary school in Abbey Wood and Townley Grammar School for Girls in Bexleyheath.[6][7]
In 2005, aged 12, Smith was training at the Europa Gym as a gymnast.[8] 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 competition.[8][9] Smith and some of the other gymnasts tried squats, and, according to Callard, her potential as a weightlifter was immediately obvious.[8] She took up weightlifting and represented her borough, Greenwich, at the London Youth Games.[10] Still aged 12, Smith was rated the fourth-best female weightlifter in the UK.[8]
Career
Early career
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.[11] During 2008, she set national records 98 times across junior and senior classes,[11] ending it holding all junior and senior records for the 53 kg weight category, with the exception of 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.[12][13] At the age of 14 she was the second-ranked UK female weightlifter, behind only two-time Commonwealth champion Michaela Breeze.[8]
![Three women holding medals and bunches of flowers.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Smith_Zoe%2C_England-gold%2C_Laxmi_N%2C_India-silver_and_Akther_Fayema%2C_Bangladesh-bronze_in_weight_lifting-Clean_%26_Jerk%2C_at_the_3rd_Commonwealth_Youth_Games-2008%2C_in_Pune_on_October_14%2C_2008.jpg/220px-thumbnail.jpg)
![Three women wearing sporting medals raising their hands.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/XIX_Commonwealth_Games-2010_Delhi_Winners_of_58_Kg_Women%E2%80%99s_Weightlifting_event%2C_Ranu_Bala_Chanu_Yumnam_of_India_%28Gold%29%2C_Seen_Lee_of_Australia_%28Silver%29_and_Zoe_Smith_of_England_%28Bronze%29%2C_during_the_medal_presentation_ceremony.jpg/220px-thumbnail.jpg)
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".[14] 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,[15] to become the first Englishwoman to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal.[16] She was shortlisted for the 2010 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.[17] In December 2010, British Weight Lifting paused her £550-a-year funding,[17] arguing that she was overweight and not adequately committed to her training; her appeal against the decision was rejected.[18] Her funding was reinstated in February 2011 after what British Weight Lifting described as "positive changes".[19]
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.[20]
2012 Olympics and following years
In May 2012 Smith was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as part of Team GB.[21] She competed in the Women's 58kg division and took the British record with a clean and jerk lift of 121 kg.[21] With a snatch of 90 kg she was placed 12th in her weight class with a total of 211 kg.[21]
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.[22][23] She travelled for the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships, but contracted a virus and had to withdraw before lifting.[23] 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.[23] Competing at a major even in the 63 kg category for the first time, Smith finished ninth at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships.[23]
She took a bronze at the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships.[24] By August 2016, Smith held four British clean and jerk records spread across three weight classes.[25][26] She missed being selected for the 2016 Olympics following a shoulder injury that she incurred at 2015 British Championships.[27][28]
Since 2018
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.[22] 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".[22] 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.[22] Smith described this time by saying, "It all became too much. I fell into a dark place and my mental health plummeted."[29]
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Smith took the silver medal in the silver in the women's 63kg category.[22] Going into the competition with a back injury, she was permitted to have an epidural.[22] After a close contest 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.[22] Bloom commented that "it is time to update those career highlights" on Smith's Wikipedia article.[22]
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.[30] She reached her target, and was selected.[29] She finished in sixth place at the 2021 European Weightlifting Championships (64 kg) in April 2021,[31] and eighth in the Women's 59 kg category at the Olympics in July of that year,[32] two places higher than she had finished in 2012.[33]
At the 2023 European Weightlifting Championships she won the gold in Clean and Jerk and the bronze in the 64 kg total category.[34] She retired from the 59kg competition at the 2024 European Championships after failing a snatch.[35] At the 2024 IWF World Cup, in the 64 kg category, Smith lifted 85 kg in the snatch and 113 kg in the clean and jerk, but this was not enough, at her last opportunity, to secure a place at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[36]
Coaching and preparation
She was coached by Andy Callard.[11] Callard nicknamed her "Pablo", after the Olympic gold medal winner Pablo Lara, who had a reputation for being lazy.[37] He also coached her sister Yana Smith for weightlifting at the London Youth Games.[38] 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.[39] Smith, Giles Greenwood and Fraer Morrow founded the East London Weightlifting Club, where Smith coaches.[40]
Media appearances
Smith was a guest on the BBC One quiz show Question of Sport in 2012, 2014, and 2023.[41][42] She featured in British Olympic Dreams on BBC One in 2012,[43] and alongside fellow weightlifters Hannah Powell and Helen Jewell in Girl Power: Going for Gold on BBC Three the same year.[44] Later in 2012, she spoke on BBC radio and television about dealing with critical comments about her not conforming to a typical physique.[45][46] She has been a guest on Ace and Vis (BBC Radio 1Xtra, 2012), Phil Williams (BBC Radio 5 Live, 2015), The Danny Baker Show (BBC Radio 5 Live, 2015), and Jessica Fostekew: Sturdy Girl Club (BBC Radio 4, 2023).[42]
Smith was a participant in the Channel 4 programme Time Crashers (2015), in which celebrities in recreated environments from historical times.[47] 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.[47]
Major competition results
Year | Venue | Weight | Snatch (kg) | Clean & Jerk (kg) | Total | Rank | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | Rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | Rank | |||||
Representing ![]() | ||||||||||||
Olympic Games | ||||||||||||
2012 | ![]() | 58 kg | 90 | 13 | 116 | 121 | 9 | 211 | 10 | |||
2020 | ![]() | 59 kg | 87 | 8 | 113 | 6 | 200 | 8 | ||||
World Championships | ||||||||||||
2015 | ![]() | 63 kg | 94 | 97 | 11 | 120 | 124 | 9 | 221 | 9 | ||
2018 | ![]() | 64 kg | 92 | 95 | 14 | 117 | 120 | 15 | 215 | 17 | ||
European Championships | ||||||||||||
2012 | ![]() | 58 kg | 85 | 89 | 92 | 4 | 110 | 116 | 4 | 208 | 4 | |
2014 | ![]() | 58 kg | 86 | 90 | 5 | 114 | ![]() | 204 | ![]() | |||
2016 | ![]() | 63 kg | 93 | 96 | 4 | 116 | 119 | ![]() | 215 | 4 | ||
2019 | ![]() | 64 kg | 92 | 96 | 6 | 122 | 126 | 128 | ![]() | 224 | ![]() | |
2021 | ![]() | 59 kg | 87 | 89 | 7 | 111 | 5 | 200 | 5 | |||
2023 | ![]() | 64 kg | 90 | 93 | 5 | 119 | 121 | ![]() | 214 | ![]() | ||
2024 | ![]() | 58.69 | – | – | – | - | - | – | – | |||
British International Open | ||||||||||||
2019 | ![]() | 64 kg | 91 | 94 | 100 | ![]() | 120 | 125 | ![]() | 225 | ![]() | |
IWF World Cup | ||||||||||||
2024 | ![]() | 64 kg | 85 | 32 | 109 | 113 | 23 | 198 | 24 | |||
Representing ![]() | ||||||||||||
Commonwealth Games | ||||||||||||
2010 | ![]() | 58 kg | 80 | 85 | 4 | 103 | 106 | 108 | ![]() | 188 | ![]() | |
2014 | ![]() | 53 kg | 89 | 92 | ![]() | 112 | 115 | 118 | ![]() | 202 | ![]() | |
2018 | ![]() | 63 kg | 87 | 90 | 92 | ![]() | 110 | 112 | 115 | ![]() | 207 | ![]() |
British Senior Championships | ||||||||||||
2010 | ![]() | 63 kg | 76 | 81 | 86 | ![]() | 102 | ![]() | 188 | ![]() | ||
2012 | ![]() | 63 kg | 87 | 91 | 94 | ![]() | 113 | 117 | ![]() | 211 | ![]() | |
2014 | ![]() | 63 kg | 83 | 86 | 88 | ![]() | 104 | 108 | 112 | ![]() | 200 | ![]() |
2015 | ![]() | 63 kg | 90 | 93 | 96 | ![]() | 114 | 118 | ![]() | 214 | ![]() | |
2016 | ![]() | 63 kg | - | – | - | – | – | – | ||||
2017 | ![]() | 63 kg | 84 | 87 | ![]() | 113 | 117 | ![]() | 204 | ![]() |
Year | Venue | Weight | Snatch (kg) | Clean & Jerk (kg) | Total | Rank | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | Rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | Rank | |||||
Representing ![]() | ||||||||||||
World Championships | ||||||||||||
2009 Youth | ![]() | 58 kg | 70 | 74 | 75 | 8 | 89 | 92 | 94 | 9 | 169 | 8 |
2011 Youth | ![]() | 64 kg | 86 | 91 | ![]() | 105 | 110 | ![]() | 201 | ![]() | ||
European Championships | ||||||||||||
2007 Youth | ![]() | 53 kg | 54 | 58 | 60 | 9 | 67 | 70 | 72 | 12 | 132 | 10 |
2008 Youth | ![]() | 53 kg | 64 | – | - | 7 | 87 | – | - | ![]() | 151 | 5 |
2009 Junior | ![]() | 58 kg | 70 | 74 | 76 | 4 | 89 | 89 | 93 | 5 | 169 | 5 |
2009 Youth | ![]() | 58 kg | 73 | 77 | 7 | 90 | 93 | 4 | 166 | 5 | ||
2010 Youth | ![]() | 58 kg | 74 | 80 | 84 | ![]() | 101 | 105 | 110 | ![]() | 194 | ![]() |
Representing ![]() | ||||||||||||
Commonwealth Youth Games[11] | ||||||||||||
2008 | ![]() | ![]() | ||||||||||
British Championships[48] | ||||||||||||
2008 Junior | ![]() | ![]() | ||||||||||
2008 Youth | ![]() | ![]() |
References
- ^ "Zoe Smith". Team GB. Archived from the original on 5 May 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "Athletes/Bios: Smith Zoe". IWF. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
- ^ "England Championship 2023 – Start list – Red Platform" (PDF). British Weight Lifting. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ a b c "Weightlifting Database: Smith Zoe". International Weightlifting Results Project. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "The England Team". Sporting Life | Commonwealth Games, Delhi 2010, Medal Table. Archived from the original on 25 October 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
- ^ "Starting Blocks athlete Zoe Smith selected to Team GB". Greenwichstartingblocks.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
- ^ "Olympic weightlfting: Back to school for Olympian Zoe Smith". BBC News. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2 September 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Bull, Andy (6 December 2011). "Zoe Smith: 'I was labelled the fat cow of weightlifting'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
- ^ "Team 2012 – Zoe Smith". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ "Team 2012 – Zoe Smith". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ a b c d Hubbard, Alan (14 December 2008). "Zoe eager to shoulder burden of expectation". The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 March 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
- ^ O'Connor, Ashling (6 January 2009). "Teenager lifting weights is raising Olympic hopes". The Times. p. 18.
- ^ "The mightiest girl in Britain". Daily Mirror. 6 January 2009. p. 16.
- ^ Goodbody, John (2 August 2009). "Svelte schoolgirl raises the bar – Zoe Smith is breaking records on road to 2012". The Sunday Times. p. 14.
- ^ Shah, Sonali (6 October 2010). "Commonwealth Games 2010: What makes Zoe Smith special?". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
- ^ Hart, Simon (6 October 2010). "Commonwealth Games 2010: Zoe Smith makes British weightlifting history". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 13 August 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ a b Smith, Ben (21 November 2011). "Smith ready to shoulder weight of expectation for Britain". The Times. p. 60.
- ^ Kessel, Anna (7 January 2011). "Zoe Smith's funding appeal rejected by British Weightlifting". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "Smith funding restored after 'positive changes'". The Times. 23 February 2011. p. 57.
- ^ Davies, Gareth A. (15 November 2012). "Full marks for young achievers". The Daily Telegraph. p. 64. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "PB not enough for Smith to challenge". Team GB. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Bloom, Ben (7 April 2018). "Zoe Smith, London 2012 forgotten figure and interim barista, overcomes injury misery to win weightlifting silver". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d Shephard, Sarah (7 April 2016). "Hipster Lifter". Sport. No. 445. pp. 30–32. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2024 – via Issuu.
- ^ "2016 European Championships". International Weightlifting Federation. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "British Women's Senior Records" (PDF). Britishweightlifting.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ Ben Dirs. "Olympics weightlifting: Zoe Smith hits back at Twitter critics". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
- ^ "Rio 2016: Zoe Smith ruled out of Rio as Rebekah Tiler takes weightlifting spot". BBC Sport. 29 June 2016. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ Shephard, Sarah (20 May 2017). "Zoe Smith: 'You're treated differently when you're not an Olympian. I'm a coffee wench now'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ a b Pantony, Ali (2 April 2021). "This is why we need to talk about gender equality in sports, according to female Olympic weightlifter Zoe Smith". Glamour. Archived from the original on 26 June 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "Zoe Smith interview: The Olympian forced to crowdfund her way back to the top". The Independent. 24 August 2018. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ "European Championships: Smith secures sixth for Great Britain". British Weight Lifting. 5 April 2021. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "Weightlifting – Women's 59kg – Results" (PDF). TOCOG. 27 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
- ^ "Zoe Smith" (PDF). British Weight Lifting. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
- ^ "Day 4 of the EWF European Championships in Yerevan: New Champions Crowned in Women's 64kg Men's 73kg". European Weightlifting Federation. 18 April 2023. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ Oliver, Brian (14 February 2024). "Sofia Day 3: Third European title for Konotop, and Finland's Retulainen makes big move in Paris rankings". European Weightlifting Federation. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "2024 IWF World Cup Phuket: Key Highlights". British Weight Lifting. 2024. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
- ^ Kessel, Anna (15 January 2011). "Wise Zoe Smith needs a lift after weighty issue is brought to the fore". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ Hope, Nick (9 July 2013). "Zoe Smith's sister Yana makes weightlifting debut". BBC News. Archived from the original on 10 April 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ Smith, Zoe (9 April 2016). "'I like my bum. It's massive and it's been like that all my life.'". The Times. p. S20.
- ^ Oliver, Brian (18 April 2023). "Latvia's Suharevs and Britain's Smith fit and firing at European Weightlifting Championships". Inside the Games. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "Question of Sport". BBC. 13 March 2023. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ a b "Search results for 'Zoe Smith'". BBC Programme Index. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "British Olympic Dreams". BBC Programme Index. 11 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "Girl Power: Going for Gold". BBC Programme Index. 22 July 2012. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "5 Live Sport: Body Beautiful?". BBC Programme Index. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ "Free Speech: Episode 9: Body Beautiful Special". BBC Programme Index. 27 November 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
- ^ a b Raeside, Julia (24 August 2015). "Time Crashers review: a great cast gets down and dirty in Olde England". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 May 2021.
- ^ Turnbull, Simon (27 July 2011). "Zoe Smith: 'Exams are important but the Olympics take priority'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 December 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
External links
- Zoe Smith at the International Weightlifting Federation
- Zoe Smith at the International Weightlifting Results Project
- Zoe Smith at Olympics.com
- Zoe Smith at Olympic.org (archived)
- Zoe Smith at Olympedia
- Zoe Smith at Team GB
- Zoe Smith at Team England
- Zoe Smith at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (archived)
- Zoe Smith at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
- BBC Olympics Profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 August 2012)
- London Olympics Profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 30 July 2012)
- v
- t
- e
- 2002
Maryse Turcotte (CAN)
- 2006
Yumnam Chanu (IND)
- 2010
Yumnam Chanu (IND)
- 2014
Zoe Smith (ENG)
- 2018
Tia-Clair Toomey (AUS)