Campbell clinches bronze with record-breaking lift

Having blazed a trail to two Olympic medals, Emily Campbell hopes that her days as a lone figurehead for weightlifting are numbered.

- TOM HARLE

Campbell self-funded her way to silver at Tokyo 2020 and thanks to that historic podium finish, the sport now enjoys National Lottery backing with a group of seven athletes featuring on UK Sport’s World Class Programme. That allows them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support.

The 30-year-old was the sole Team GB lifter to qualify for Paris, winning bronze. Crucially, she believes the conditions are now in place for that not to be the case at LA 2028 and beyond and will do everything in her power to ensure it doesn’t.

“It would be lovely to have some friends here with me,” said Campbell, “We’ve got some really good juniors coming up, they’re working really hard and hopefully they can see me on the podium and be like, ‘you know what, she’s gone and done it again, we can do this.’”

Campbell has a high opinion of 26-year-old Fraer Morrow, who is the British record holder at 55kg. Morrow pulled out of the Paris Olympic qualification process in March due to back issues.