Loughborough College’s Zoe Smith has taken silver after a stellar display in the women’s 63kg weightlifting at the Commonwealth Games.
Zoe became the first Englishwoman ever to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal when she was only 16. Two years later, at the London Olympics, she took the British record in the Women’s 58kg division and in 2014 she won Commonwealth gold and secured the Games record in Glasgow. But despite being favourite for GB’s only weightlifting place in the 2016 Olympics, she missed out after completing a snatch at the British Championships and losing the bar behind her head, dislocating her shoulder.
Speaking from the Gold Coast Zoe, who studies A-levels at Loughborough College, said: "That is one of the toughest competitions I've ever done so this has got to be one of my proudest moments, it's up there.
“I've had maybe the worst comp. prep of my life, I came back from shoulder surgery [in 2015] and set my best total in November to qualify to come here, then in my preparation was going really well until about three weeks ago when I had another back injury flare up which seems to happen to me regularly, and I've not trained for three weeks.
“I got here and didn't even know if I'd be on the platform two hours ago, I’ve rested for about five days and literally not touched a bar so it has been manic. So today we just went pedal to the metal and just smashed it, so I'm over the moon. I just didn't expect to be on that podium.
"You may have been able to tell [I wasn't fully fit] by looking at the weights, that was well below par for me, that is nowhere near when I'm on top form the kind of weight I want to do. I really thought I'd be looking to get PBs at this competition but alas it wasn't to be. I'm just going to get into training when I'm back home in the UK and keep my head down and on to the next one.
"I've made a few changes in my personal life, so I'm now living in Loughborough, I've gone back to college to finish my A-levels at the grand old age of 23, and that's after I lost my funding. I feel really blessed to be able to train there, and it's obviously working. I'm enjoying life when I can.
"When I'm on form, I'm good, I can be hitting those big weights, I can hang with the best and stay in contention for medals. I'm not old, I turn 24 next month but it's a lot different from being 16 when you're basically just made of rubber and magic and can just bounce back from anything. I really need to focus on taking care of my body, just to make sure I'm on form to lift those big weights."