Zoe Smith is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 weightlifter. In October 2010 Smith won a bronze medal in the women's 58kg division

Weightlifting at the 2010 Commonwealth Games – Women's 58 kg

The women's 58 kg weightlifting event was the second lightest women's event at the weightlifting competition, limiting competitors to a maximum of 58 kilograms of body mass. The whole competition took place on 6 October at 14:00. This event was the sixth weightlifting event to conclude. The...

 at the 2010 Commonwealth Games

2010 Commonwealth Games

The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games, were held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 2010. A total of 6,081 athletes from 71 Commonwealth nations and dependencies competed in 21 sports and 272 events, making it the largest Commonwealth Games till date...

 in Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, her first senior international competition, to become the first Englishwoman to win a Commonwealth Games weightlifting medal.

Sporting career

Smith was training as a gymnast

Gymnast

Gymnasts are people who participate in the sports of either artistic gymnastics, trampolining, or rhythmic gymnastics.See gymnasium for the origin of the word gymnast from gymnastikos.-Female artistic:Australia...

 when it was suggested she take up weightlifting as it was felt unlikely that she would make the 2012 Olympic Games

2012 Summer Olympics

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...

 as a gymnast.

Career highlights

2010 English Senior Championships: Champion

2010 European Youth Championships: Snatch

Snatch (weightlifting)

The snatch is one of the two olympic weightlifting events .The essence of the event is to lift a barbell from the platform to locked arms overhead in a smooth continuous movement. The barbell is pulled as high as the lifter can manage at which point the barbell is flipped overhead...

 Bronze; Clean & Jerk

Clean and jerk

The clean and jerk is one of the two Olympic weightlifting events .The clean portion of the lift refers to the lifter explosively pulling the weight from the floor to a racked position across deltoids and clavicles...

 Silver; Total Silver

2009 British Junior Championships: Champion

2009 British U17 Championships: Champion

2009 World Youth Championships: 8th

2009 European Junior Championships: 6th

2008 European Youth Championships: Clean & Jerk Silver

2008 Commonwealth Youth Games: Gold

2008 BOA

British Olympic Association

The British Olympic Association is the national Olympic committee for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It was formed in 1905 in the House of Commons, and at that time consisted of seven national governing body members from the following sports: fencing, life-saving, cycling, skating, rowing,...

 Athlete of the Year – Weightlifting

External links