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Zoe Smith

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For other uses, see Zoe Smith (disambiguation).

Zoe Smith
A woman liting weights
Zoe Smith at the London Youth Games in 2011
Personal information
Birth nameZoe Smith
NationalityBritish
Born (1994-04-26) 26 April 1994 (age 30)
Height1.59 m (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in)[1]
Weight58.06 kg (128.0 lb) (in March 2024)[2]
Sport
CountryUnited Kingdom
SportWeightlifting
Event(s)–58kg, −59kg, −63kg, −64kg
ClubEast London Weightlifting[3]
Achievements and titles
Personal best225kg[4]
Medal record
Women's weightlifting
Representing  Great Britain
European Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Tel Aviv −58 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Batumi –64 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Yerevan –64 kg
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow 58 kg
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast 63 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Delhi 58 kg
Updated on 8 August 2024

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 A few months after her victory at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, her funding was withdrawn as she was deemed to be insufficiently committed to the sport, but was restored a couple of month later.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

[edit]

Zoe Smith was born on 26 April 1994,[5] the daughter of Nikki, an administrator at the Department of Health, and Terry, who worked as a window cleaner.[6] She attended De Lucy Primary School in Abbey Wood and Townley Grammar School for Girls in Bexleyheath.[7][8]

In 2005, aged 12, Smith was training at a local gym as a gymnast.[9] Andrew Callard, who was forming a team for the London Youth Games, was in the building and was seeking female competitors for weightlifting at the competition.[9][10] Smith and some of the other gymnasts tried squats, and, according to Callard, her potential as a weightlifter was immediately obvious.[9] She took up weightlifting and represented her borough, Greenwich, at the London Youth Games.[10][11]

Career

[edit]

Early career

[edit]

Smith won the South East County Championships, her first major competition.[6] She 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.[6][12] During 2008, she set national records 98 times across junior and senior classes,[6][13] ending the year holding all junior and senior records for the 53 kg weight category, with the exception of the clean and jerk record.[14] In the 58 kg category, she held every record that she could as someone aged under 18. The British Olympic Association named her their Athlete of the Year for Weightlifting.[14][15][16] At the age of 14 she was the second-ranked UK female weightlifter, behind only two-time Commonwealth champion Michaela Breeze.[9]

Three women holding medals and bunches of flowers.
Smith (centre) at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games, where she finished first, ahead of Laxmi N and Akther Fayema[17]
Three women wearing sporting medals raising their hands.
Smith (right) at the medal presentation ceremony at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, where she won the bronze medal. Ranu Bala Chanu Yumnam won the gold medal, and Seen Lee took the silver.[18]

Aged 15, Smith finished sixth at the 2009 European Junior Championships (for competitors up to 20 years old), a result that John Goodbody of The Sunday Times wrote "provided further evidence of her immense potential".[19] 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,[20] to become the first Englishwoman to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal.[21] She was shortlisted for the 2010 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.[22] In December 2010, British Weight Lifting paused her £550-a-year funding,[22] arguing that she was overweight and not adequately committed to her training; her appeal against the decision was rejected.[23] Her funding was reinstated in February 2011 after what British Weight Lifting described as "positive changes".[24]

2012 Olympics and following years

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In May 2012 Smith was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.[25] She competed in the Women's 58 kg division and took the British record with a clean and jerk lift of 121 kg.[25] With a snatch of 90 kg she was placed 12th in her weight class with a total of 211 kg.[25]

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.[26][27] She travelled for the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships, but contracted a virus and had to withdraw before lifting.[27] 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.[27] Competing at a major event in the 63 kg category for the first time, Smith finished ninth at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships.[27]

She took a bronze at the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships.[28] By August 2016, Smith held four British clean and jerk records spread across three weight classes.[29][30] She missed being selected for the 2016 Olympics following a shoulder injury that she incurred at 2015 British Championships.[31][32]

Since 2018

[edit]

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.[26] 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".[26] 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.[26] Smith described this time by saying, "It all became too much. I fell into a dark place and my mental health plummeted."[33]

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Smith took the silver medal in the women's 63 kg category.[26] Going into the competition with a back injury, she was permitted to have an Epidural administration to reduce the pain.[26] 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.[26] Bloom commented that "it is time to update those career highlights" on Smith's Wikipedia article.[26]

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.[34] She reached her target, and was selected.[33] She finished in sixth place at the 2021 European Weightlifting Championships (64 kg) in April 2021,[35] and eighth in the Women's 59 kg category at the Olympics in July of that year,[36] two places higher than she had finished in 2012.[37]

At the 2023 European Weightlifting Championships she won the gold in Clean and Jerk and the bronze in the 64 kg total category.[38] She retired from the 59 kg competition at the 2024 European Championships after failing a snatch.[39] 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.[40]

Coaching and preparation

[edit]

She was coached by Andy Callard.[6] Callard nicknamed her "Pablo", after the Olympic gold medal winner Pablo Lara, who had a reputation for being lazy.[41] He also coached her sister Yana Smith for weightlifting at the London Youth Games.[42] 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.[43] Smith, Giles Greenwood and Fraer Morrow founded the East London Weightlifting Club, where Smith coaches.[44]

Media appearances

[edit]

Smith was a guest on the BBC One quiz show Question of Sport in 2012, 2014, and 2023.[45][46] She featured in British Olympic Dreams on BBC One in 2012 and alongside fellow weightlifters Hannah Powell and Helen Jewell in Girl Power: Going for Gold on BBC Three the same year.[47][48] Later in 2012, she spoke on BBC radio and television about dealing with critical comments regarding her not conforming to a typical physique.[49][50] 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).[46]

Smith was a participant in the Channel 4 programme Time Crashers (2015), in which celebrities were placed in environments recreating specific historical times.[51] 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.[51]

Major competition results

[edit]
Senior results for Zoe Smith[4]
Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank
1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 Rank
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
2012 United Kingdom London, Great Britain 58 kg 90 93 93 13 116 121 121 9 211 10
2020 Japan Tokyo, Japan 59 kg 87 87 91 8 113 116 119 6 200 8
World Championships
2015 United States Houston, United States 63 kg 94 97 100 11 120 124 128 9 221 9
2018 Turkmenistan Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 64 kg 92 92 95 14 117 120 120 15 215 17
European Championships
2012 Turkey Antalya, Turkey 58 kg 85 89 92 4 110 116 120 4 208 4
2014 Israel Tel Aviv, Israel 58 kg 86 86 90 5 114 118 118 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 204 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2016 Norway Førde, Norway 63 kg 93 96 98 4 116 119 119 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 215 4
2019 Georgia (country) Batumi, Georgia 64 kg 92 96 98 6 122 126 128 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 224 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2021 Russia Moscow, Russia 59 kg 87 89 89 7 111 111 114 5 200 5
2023 Armenia Yerevan, Armenia 64 kg 90 93 95 5 119 121 122 1st place, gold medalist(s) 214 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2024 Bulgaria Sofia, Bulgaria 59 kg 84.0 – – – - - – –
British International Open
2019 United Kingdom Coventry, Great Britain 64 kg 91 94 100 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 120 125 130 1st place, gold medalist(s) 225 1st place, gold medalist(s)
IWF World Cup
2024 Thailand Phuket, Thailand 64 kg 85 85 88 32 109 113 116 23 198 24
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
2010 India Delhi, India 58 kg 80 80 85 4 103 106 108 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 188 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2014 Scotland Glasgow, Scotland 53 kg 89 92 95 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 112 115 118 1st place, gold medalist(s) 202 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2018 Australia Gold Coast, Australia 63 kg 87 90 92 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 110 112 115 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 207 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
British Senior Championships
2010 United Kingdom Kilmarnock 63 kg 76 81 86 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 102 109 115 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 188 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2012 United Kingdom South Normanton 63 kg 87 91 94 1st place, gold medalist(s) 113 117 120.0 1st place, gold medalist(s) 211 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2014 United Kingdom Coventry 63 kg 83 86 88 1st place, gold medalist(s) 104 108 112 1st place, gold medalist(s) 200 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2015 United Kingdom Coventry 63 kg 90 93 96 1st place, gold medalist(s) 114 118 123 1st place, gold medalist(s) 214 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2016 United Kingdom Coventry 63 kg 92 92 - – - – – –
2017 United Kingdom Coventry 63 kg 84 87 90 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 113 117 117 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 204 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Junior and Youth results for Zoe Smith[4]
Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank
1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 Rank
Representing  Great Britain
World Championships
2009 Youth Thailand Chiangmai, Thailand 58 kg 70 74 75 8 89 92 94 9 169 8
2011 Youth Peru Lima, Peru 64 kg 86 91 93 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 105 110 115 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 201 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
European Championships
2007 Youth Italy Pavia, Italy 53 kg 54 58 60 9 67 70 72 12 132 10
2008 Youth France Amiens, France 53 kg 64 – - 7 87 – - 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 151 5
2009 Junior Sweden Landskrona, Sweden 58 kg 70 74 76 4 89 89 93 5 169 5
2009 Youth Israel Eilat, Israel 58 kg 73 73 77 7 90 93 96 4 166 5
2010 Youth Spain Valencia, Spain 58 kg 74 80 84 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 101 105 110 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 194 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Representing  England
Commonwealth Youth Games[6]
2008 India Pune, India 53 kg 159 1st place, gold medalist(s)
British Championships[52]
2009 Junior United Kingdom UK 1st place, gold medalist(s)
2009 Youth United Kingdom UK 1st place, gold medalist(s)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Zoe Smith". Team GB. Archived from the original on 5 May 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  2. ^ "Athletes/Bios: Smith Zoe". IWF. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  3. ^ "England Championship 2023 – Start list – Red Platform" (PDF). British Weight Lifting. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
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  5. ^ "The England Team". Sporting Life. Archived from the original on 25 October 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
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  7. ^ "Starting Blocks athlete Zoe Smith selected to Team GB". Greenwichstartingblocks.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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  10. ^ a b "Team 2012 – Zoe Smith". Team 2012. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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  12. ^ Rowbottom, Mike (5 July 2010). "England picks teenage weightlifter for Commonwealth Games". Inside the Games.
  13. ^ "Zoe Smith Is a 14-Year-Old Weightlifter, Britain's Strongest Girl and 'Athlete of the Year'". NBC Chicago. 20 January 2009.
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  17. ^ "Grapplers continue India's forward match; win two golds". myKhel. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  18. ^ "XIX Commonwealth Games-2010 Delhi: Winners of 58 Kg Women's Weightlifting event, Ranu Bala Chanu Yumnam of India (Gold), Seen Lee of Australia (Silver) and Zoe Smith of England (Bronze), during the medal presentation ceremony, at Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex, in New Delhi on October 06, 2010". Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (India). Retrieved 20 December 2024.
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  24. ^ "Smith funding restored after 'positive changes'". The Times. 23 February 2011. p. 57.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ "2016 European Championships". International Weightlifting Federation. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  29. ^ "British Women's Senior Records" (PDF). Britishweightlifting.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  30. ^ Dirs, Ben. "Olympics weightlifting: Zoe Smith hits back at Twitter critics". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  31. ^ "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.
  32. ^ 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.
  33. ^ 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.
  34. ^ "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.
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  38. ^ "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.
  39. ^ 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.
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  41. ^ 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.
  42. ^ 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.
  43. ^ 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.
  44. ^ 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.
  45. ^ "Question of Sport". BBC. 13 March 2023. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  46. ^ a b "Search results for 'Zoe Smith'". BBC Programme Index. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  47. ^ "British Olympic Dreams". BBC Programme Index. 11 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  48. ^ "Girl Power: Going for Gold". BBC Programme Index. 22 July 2012. Archived from the original on 9 August 2024. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  49. ^ "5 Live Sport: Body Beautiful?". BBC Programme Index. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
  50. ^ "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.
  51. ^ 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.
  52. ^ 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.
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