Zoe Smith

Zoe Smith

Zoe Smith at the London Youth Games

Personal information

Birth name

Zoë Smith

Nationality

British

Born

26 April 1994 (age 29)

Height

1.59 m (5 ft 21⁄2 in)

Weight

58 kg (128 lb)

Sport

Country

United Kingdom

Sport

Weightlifting

Event

–58kg

Club

Europa WLC

Coached by

Andrew Callard

Medal record

Women's weightlifting

Representing Great Britain
European Championship
	2014 Tel Aviv	Women's 58 kg
	2019 Batumi	–64 kg
	2023	–64 kg
	2023 C&J	–64 kg
Representing England
Commonwealth Games
	2010 Delhi	Women's 58 kg
	2014 Glasgow	Women's 58 kg
	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.

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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]

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]

In May 2012 Smith was chosen, as part of Team GB, to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. 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).

By August 2016, Smith held four British clean and jerk records spread across three weight classes.^[11]^[12]

She missed being selected for the 2016 Olympics following a shoulder injury.^[13]^[14] Following UK Sport's decision 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.^[15] This target was reached by June 2019.

She is coached by Andy Callard.^[5]

Major competition results

Year	Venue	Weight	Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total	Rank
Year	Venue	Weight	1	2	3	Rank	1	2	3	Rank	Total	Rank
Representing Great Britain
Olympic Games
2012	London, Great Britain	58 kg	90	93	93	13	116	~~121~~	121	9	211	10
2020	Tokyo, Japan	59 kg	87	87	91	8	~~113~~	116	~~119~~	6	200	8
World Championships
2015	Houston, United States	63 kg	94	97	~~100~~	11	120	124	~~128~~	9	221	9
2018	Ashgabat, Turkmenistan	64 kg	92	92	95	14	117	~~120~~	120	15	215	17
European Championships
2012	Antalya, Turkey	58 kg	85	89	'92	4	110	116	~~120~~	4	208	4
2014	Tel Aviv, Israel	58 kg	86	86	90	5	114	~~118~~	~~118~~		204
2016	Førde, Norway	63 kg	93	96	98	4	116	~~119~~	119		215	4
2019	Batumi, Georgia	64 kg	92	96	98	6	122	126	128		224
2021	Moscow, Russia	59 kg	87	89	89	7	~~111~~	111	~~114~~	5	200	5
2023	Yerevan, Armenia	64 kg	90	93	95	5	119	121	~~122~~		214
British International Open
2019	Coventry, Great Britain	64 kg	91	94	100	2	120	125	~~130~~	1	225
Representing England
Commonwealth Games
2010	Delhi, India	58 kg	80	80	85	4	103	106	108		188
2014	Glasgow, Scotland	53 kg	89	92	95		112	115	118		202
2018	Gold Coast, Australia	63 kg	87	90	92		110	112	115		207

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

^ "TheEngland 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.
^ "Team 2012 – Zoe Smith". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
^ ^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.
^ O'Connor, Ashling (6 January 2009). "Teenager lifting weights is raising Olympic hopes". The Times. p. 18.
^ "The mightiest girl in Britain". The Daily Mirror. 6 January 2009. p. 16.
^ ^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.
^ 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.
^ "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 – via www.theguardian.com.
^ "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.