Zoe Smith

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Zoe Smith (disambiguation).

Zoe Smith
Zoe Smith at the London Youth Games
Personal information
Birth nameZoë Smith
NationalityBritish
Born (1994-04-26) 26 April 1994 (age 30)
Height1.59 m (5 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Weight58 kg (128 lb)
Sport
CountryUnited Kingdom
SportWeightlifting
Event–58kg
ClubEuropa WLC
Coached byAndrew Callard
Medal record
Women's weightlifting
Representing  Great Britain
European Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2014 Tel Aviv Women's 58 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Batumi –64 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2023 –64 kg
Gold medal – first place 2023 C&J –64 kg
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Delhi Women's 58 kg
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Women's 58 kg
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast Women's 63 kg
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
.

Early life

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]

Sporting career

Smith was training as a

gymnast when it was suggested she take up weightlifting to help her borough Greenwich compete in the London Youth Games.[4] She 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.[5] During 2008, she set national records 98 times across junior and senior classes,[5] 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.[6][7]

Smith (centre) at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games

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".[8] 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,[9] to become the first Englishwoman to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal.[10] She was shortlisted for the 2010 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.[11] In December 2010, British Weight Lifting paused her £550-a-year funding,[11] arguing that she was overweight and not adequately committed to her training; her appeal against the decision was rejected.[12] Her funding was reinstated in February 2011 after what British Weight Lifting described as "positive changes".[13]

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.[14]

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 204kg, she won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July, lifting a total of 210kg.[15][16] She travelled for the 2014 World Weightlifting Championships, but contracted a virus and had to withdraw before lifting.[16] Following the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Smith has said, she gained about 10kg in weight, and having sometimes struggled to keep under 60kg, she decided on a target weight of 63-64kg.[16] Competing at a major even in the 63kg category for the first time, Smith finished ninth at the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships.[16]

Smith was a participant in the

boar's skull.[17]

She took a bronze at the 2016 European Weightlifting Championships.[18]

By August 2016, Smith held four British clean and jerk records spread across three weight classes.[19][20] She missed being selected for the 2016 Olympics following a shoulder injury that she incurred at 2015 British Championships.[21][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".[15] 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.[15] Smith described this time by saying, "It all became too much. I fell into a dark place and my mental health plummeted."[23]

Around 2018, Smith relocated to the

A-levels in biology, psychology and environmental science.[15]

At the

epidural.[15] After a close contenst with Mona Pretorius for second place, Smith prevailed, equalling Pretorius's lift of 115kg in the clean and jerk after exceeding her lift in the snatch.[15] Bloom commented that "it is time to update those career highlights" on Smith's Wikipedia article.[15]

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.[24] She reached her target, and was selected.[23] She finished in sixth place at the 2021 European Weightlifting Championships (64kg) in April 2021,[25] and eighth in the Women's 59 kg category at the Olympics in July of that year.[26]

She was a guest on the

Question of Sport in March 2023.[27] At the 2023 European Weightlifting Championships she won the bronze in the 64kg category.[28] She retired from the 59kg competition at the 2024 European Championships after failing a snatch.[29]

She was coached by Andy Callard,[5] who nicknamed her "Pablo", after the Olympic gold medal winner Pablo Lara, who had a reputation for being lazy.[30] He also coached her sister Yana Smith for weightlifting at the London Youth Games.[31] 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.[32]

Major competition results

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)
British International Open
2019
 United Kingdom Coventry, Great Britain 64 kg 91 94 100 2 120 125 130 1 225 1st place, gold medalist(s)
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)

Other results

  • 2007: British Under 17s and Under 18s Champion
  • 2008: British Under 17s Champion
  • 2008: Commonwealth Youth Games: Gold.
  • 2008: European Youth Championships: Clean & Jerk Silver.
  • 2009: European Junior Championships: 6th[8]
  • 2009: World Youth Championships: 8th
  • 2009: British U17 Championships: Champion
  • 2009: British Junior Championships: Champion
  • 2010: European Youth Championships: Snatch Bronze; Clean & Jerk Silver; Total Silver.
  • 2010: English Senior Championships: Champion
  • 2010: British Senior Championships: Silver
  • 2011: World Youth Championships: Silver
  • 2012: British Senior Championships: Champion
  • 2014: British Senior Championships: Champion
  • 2014: English Senior Championships: Champion
  • 2017: British Championships Silver Medal
  • 2019: British Senior Championships: Champion

References

  1. ^ "TheEngland Team". Sporting Life | Commonwealth Games, Delhi 2010, Medal Table. Archived from the original on 25 October 2011. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  2. ^ "Starting Blocks athlete Zoe Smith selected to Team GB". Greenwichstartingblocks.org. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ "Team 2012 – Zoe Smith". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  5. ^ a b c 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.
  6. ^ O'Connor, Ashling (6 January 2009). "Teenager lifting weights is raising Olympic hopes". The Times. p. 18.
  7. ^ "The mightiest girl in Britain". The Daily Mirror. 6 January 2009. p. 16.
  8. ^ a b Goodbody, John (2 August 2009). "Svelte schoolgirl raises the bar – Zoe Smith is breaking records on road to 2012". The Sunday Times. p. 14.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ a b Smith, Ben (21 November 2011). "Smith ready to shoulder weight of expectation for Britain". The Times. p. 60.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ "Smith funding restored after 'positive changes'". The Times. 23 February 2011. p. 57.
  14. ^ Davies, Gareth A. (15 November 2012). "Full marks for young achievers". The Daily Telegraph. p. 64 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ 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 Telgraph. Archived from the original on 7 April 2018.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ a b {{cite news |last=Raeside |first=Julia |date=24 August 2015| title=Time Crashers review: a great cast gets down and dirty in Olde England |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/aug/24/time-crashers-review-tv-kirstie-alley-keith-allen-meg-mathews Archived 5 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine }
  18. ^ "2016 European Championships". International Weightlifting Federation. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  19. ^ "British Women's Senior Records" (PDF). Britishweightlifting.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ "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.
  22. ^ 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 – via www.theguardian.com.
  23. ^ 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.
  24. ^ "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.
  25. ^ "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.
  26. ^ "Weightlifting – Women's 59kg – Results" (PDF). TOCOG. 27 July 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  27. ^ "Question of Sport". BBC. 13 March 2023. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
  28. ^ "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.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ 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.
  31. ^ 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.
  32. ^ 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.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Zoe_Smith&oldid=1220955183"