How Emily Campbell became a trailblazer for women in strength sports

Emily Campbell has become one of Britain’s most powerful sporting figures, rewriting history as the first British woman to win an Olympic weightlifting medal. Rising from grassroots athletics to global podiums, she has become a champion in every sense of the word. 

Her success at the Tokyo Olympics, paired with her World and European medals, has positioned her as one of the nation’s leading voices in high-performance sport and a true female inspiration for the next generation of athletes.

Celebrated for her determination, leadership and advocacy for women in strength sports, Emily continues to broaden the visibility of weightlifting across the UK and worldwide. She stands as a role model whose journey proves that commitment, resilience and belief can drive extraordinary achievement.

In this exclusive interview with Champions Olympic Speakers Agency, Emily reflects on the moments that shaped her career, the challenges she has overcome and the lessons she hopes to pass on to aspiring athletes.

Q1. What first set you on the path toward Olympic weightlifting, and how did your early sporting experiences shape that journey?

Emily Campbell: “My journey started, I think, from very young without even knowing. I was into every sport on the planet. Went to loads of after-school clubs, lots of extracurricular activities, and did every sport you could think of and loved it, and didn't really care if I was good at it or not. I just really enjoyed playing sport.

“And that made me find my first love, which was athletics. So as a thrower, I used to throw hammer, shot and discus. And yeah, used to compete for my local club called Notts AC and that's essentially what led me into weightlifting. Um so I wanted to get stronger for the shot um and hammer when I went to university in Loughborough.

“I met a coach and asked him if he could teach me the Olympic weightlifting lifts because people said it would help me throw the shot further, started learning the movements. It was horrible and complicated, and at first, I wasn't really a massive fan of it, but I just loved the determination of going back and trying to make it better.

“One day you looked like you'd done it for the first time, you looked like you were really getting it and it was going well. Next time, you looked like you'd never done it in your life, and it used to frustrate me and want to go back. And then before I knew it, I was really into weightlifting and realised that every time I was lifting, I was when I was the happiest.

“I did the two sports for a year and then uh decided to completely devote my time to weightlifting and take that seriously, and within 18 months, qualified for my first Commonwealth Games. Then I've been in the world of weightlifting ever since. The journey's just obviously got better and better, and I learned a lot of things along the way.”

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Q2. As you progressed in the sport, what challenges stood out most, and do you feel the obstacles faced by female weightlifters differ from those experienced by men?

Emily Campbell: “I think in terms of actually the journey within weightlifting, people think there's a lot of difference between males and females. There's actually not. And females tend to pick it up a lot easier and learn the skill a lot better because we can put our egos aside and actually learn the technique, and actually concentrate on the important things instead of thinking about doing big weights all the time, which is something men tend to do.

“I think it's more the changes kind of come into play between males and females as you get more successful. And again within the weightlifting world, female weightlifting is absolutely booming, and it's fantastic, and we have, you know, immense amounts of fans within the weightlifting world.

“I think it's just about being able to grow that further in the wider world, because obviously people still think it's a very male-dominated sport, but actually within the world of weightlifting, you know, the females are actually, especially in GB at the moment - like our women's team in terms of rankings and where we place and come - is actually a lot stronger than the men's, and we do a lot better and we're a lot more successful.

“I mean it's been a difficult journey in terms of, you know, injury, funding. We were an unfunded sport for a long time, so we had to kind of work our own way. Like in my journey in the lead-up to the Olympics in Tokyo, my first Olympics, I essentially created my own team - so that's in terms of nutrition, physio, S&C, psychology, etc. 

“I kind of built that myself and made sure that I had those things in place, because that wasn't provided um by the national governing body because they just didn't have the funding to do it.

“And even in the beginning, I had to pay for competitions to be able to go to.

“I've had a few surgeries in my time as well, which have just been not really impact injuries that I've got from weightlifting, but just wear and tear and just unexpected things that kind of come with being elite sport. So that's been uh kind of hard to navigate.

“And then yeah, just the awareness of our sport. Like, sport in weightlifting in the UK is not a massive sport. It's not seen as, you know, football or athletics, etc. 

“So it's been kind of up to me, with being the one in the sport that's shone the spotlight from the Olympics, to be able to, you know, deliver our sport into different areas and make people understand our sport and understand what we're trying to achieve and the message that we're trying to give out, which is, you know, weightlifting is for everyone.

“It's probably one of the easiest sports to get to grassroots level, even though it is probably one of the hardest sports to do at an elite level. So yeah, it's the complete contrast, but it's just giving people the right education to understand that.”

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Q3. Reflecting on your career, what guidance would you offer your younger self or anyone navigating similar hurdles in elite sport?

Emily Campbell: “The advice I would give to my younger self would definitely be to believe in the process. Because I think especially with, I mean, I think this goes for all sport, but especially in weightlifting. It's about building brick by brick.

“So in the beginning, you might feel like, you know, it's not going to work or you're not where you want to be, or you're not achieving the things that you want to be, but that is all foundation work for getting you where you need to be. So I think it's just about being patient and believing in the journey.

“And I think I would also say to young people as well, you know, try as many sports as possible. If weightlifting is what you want to finish with and what you're in love with and what you want to continue doing, then that's fantastic. But I also think you learn a lot of skills and things that are transferable from other sports.

“Like I said, I did, you know, football, basketball, swimming, trampolining, everything when I was a lot younger. And I do think that that's now helped me in my career in weightlifting. 

“So I think go out, socialise, make your friends, learn things from different people, enjoy the art of all the different things you get from different sports. And then obviously as you get a little bit older, if you feel like that's what you want to specialise in, then I think you'll definitely know as well, a decision in your heart, that that's the thing for you.”

This exclusive interview with Emily Campbell was conducted by Megan Lupton of The Motivational Speakers Agency.

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