“I love being a Black woman; I love our culture, the way we look and the way we shine. But I have a responsibility to relay this message to young Black girls as society often tells them that they shouldn’t be proud of their skin, hair, or culture. I’m fighting for a world where all Black women and girls can shine without being told they can’t.”
Emily Campbell
Introduction
Any sport presents the competitor with a curved ball, challenging the individual to achieve glory. One such sport where you are essentially alone with just yourself and various sets of weights is weightlifting. It is a high-octane sport that combines mental and physical strength with the object weight of tumultuous steel. One such athlete who has taken the weightlifting world by storm is Emily Campbell. A 30-year-old black lady who has a truly inspirational life story which earned her a bronze medal at this year’s Olympics in Paris.
The Journey
“Follow your dreams, do what makes you happy. If you want it bad enough, you will get it. It’s not going to be easy, and many people will doubt you along the way, but when you get there, the feeling is so much sweeter.”
Emily Campbell
Born in Nottingham in 1994, Emily was raised in a loving Jamaican household. Sundays were always unique, with a young Emily waking up to the sweet smell of curried mutton, rice, and peas and the rich vibes of reggae music. A young girl and then a woman who deeply loves her hair, creating different styles to showcase her culture. Growing up in a Britain where race still caused prejudice and tremendous obstacles, Campbell had to strive so much harder to be appreciated and taken seriously but, most notably to prove to herself that she had that X Factor to succeed and win. Only when she started to win, did she feel she was being taken seriously as an athlete.
This challenge had plenty of pitfalls. One is that she was unfunded for the majority of her career. Companies were unwilling to sponsor her, mentally making the training even more challenging. She had to raise £10,000 to go to Tokyo. With such a physical sport comes injuries, with Campbell sustaining her fair share and making it even harder to get back to her optimum form and fitness. Growing up on a council estate, Snape Wood in Buswell, Nottinghamshire, with her younger sister, Kelsie, who is now an international swimmer for Jamaica where she relied on free fruit and vegetables from the local market and worked in a special needs school, then on reception at a sport and injury clinic at the University of Nottingham to fund her sporting journey.
She eventually received a small grant from British Weight Lifting to help her Olympic bid. A journey that would win her a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a bronze at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Making her the first woman to win two Olympic medals in half a century. A lady who came to prominence by winning the English Senior Championship in January 2017 in Milton Keynes. This was followed by glory at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. She became the first British weightlifter since Marie Forteath in 1988 to win golds across all three disciplines at the tournament.
At Tokyo 2020, which took place in 2021 due to the pandemic, she became the first British woman to get a medal in weightlifting at the Olympics by winning silver in the women’s 87kg+ session, which saw both British and Commonwealth records broken. She also won gold at the European Championships in 2022 and 2023 and the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022 before heading to Paris.
The Force
At 19st 9lb, Emily is a force to be reckoned with in the +87 kg category. Her performance at the Paris Olympics was excellent, making her the first weightlifter since Louis Martin in 1964 to win multiple medals. Now sponsored by Nike, Campbell is flying the flag for Team GB and plus-sized women. This is a refreshing decision that Nike should be applauded for. A powerful that needs to be heard. A once unrecognised girl is now in high demand from the company giants. Campbell is a lady who now has her own clothing range and is sponsored by the National Lottery. Someone with ambitions of opening a weightlifting gym and appearing on Strictly Come Dancing. That’s not to say she still doesn’t receive racist and size insults from trolls on social media and snide remarks from others in her sport because of her size. My message to them is big is beautiful, own it! After winning a bronze medal in Paris, her cartwheel will live with me forever. A celebration on stage after setting a new combined personal best of 288kg over snatch and clean-and-jerk disciplines to finish behind defending champion Li Wenwen of China and 21-year-old Park Hye-Jeong of South Korea.
