Bronze weightlifter Emily Campbell on making Olympic history
Emily Campbell is raising the bar. The Olympic weightlifter has just won the final Team GB medal in the Paris Olympics, taking home bronze in the women's +81kg category. That makes her the first British weightlifter to win two Olympic medals in more than half a century, having won silver three years ago at Tokyo - at that point, she was also the first British female weightlifter to win a medal of that calibre.
In an incredible display of strength today - a personal best, to be precise - she finished with a total of 288kg, lifting 126kg in the snatch (taking the bar from the ground overhead in one movement) and 162kg in the clean and jerk (lifting the barbell from the ground to the front of the shoulders (the clean) and then from the shoulders to overhead (the jerk)).
She's also performed the hat trick of three consecutive European Championship first places from 2021 - 2023, defending her title for the fourth time this year.
We revisit her conversation with WH prior to her success in Paris, where she spoke about her intense training regimen, and the tools, routines and mentalities that do the heavy lifting on and off the platform, even after the chalk settles.
What is your weekly training routine for Paris?
'Most of my training is done in the gym. I do double sessions on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. Morning sessions are technical-based work of around an hour to 90 minutes. Afternoons are around two hours, because there's heavy lifting, so it takes a little longer to warm up and get the exercises done.'
Monday: 1 x 60-90-minute morning technical-based session and 1 x 120-minute afternoon session: power snatch, full snatch, jerks off the blocks and front squats. 'I probably do around three main exercises in an afternoon session.'
Tuesday: 1 x 120-minute single session: pause-at-the-knee power snatches, power clean and power jerks, or power clean and push press.
Wednesday: 1 x 60-90-minute morning technical-based session and 1 x 120-minute afternoon session: snatch and snatch-grip deadlifts.
Thursday: 1 x 60-minute reformer Pilates session.
Friday: 1 x 60-90-minute morning technical-based session plus accessory or 'bodybuilding' work e.g. GHD holds, rows, or shoulder press (usually done in morning on a double-session day, or at the end of a single-session day) and 1 x 120-minute afternoon session.
Saturdays: 1 x 120-minute single session: clean and jerk.
Sunday: A complete rest day. 'I do nothing at all and just recuperate and recover. However, if I'm feeling a little stiff, I might go in my garage gym and do a bit of stretching.'
What's the first thing you do when you wake up during this Olympic training phase?
'I put some music on - I'm broad in my taste but I like anything on the urban side. The radio keeps you current and sometimes gets you laughing in the morning as well.'
What's the last thing you do at night during this training phase?
'Put my recovery boots on and watch something good on TV as a nice little wind down.'
How do you organise your training cycle?
'It depends on how far we are from competition. Generally, we work in 12-week blocks, although it's not always that long: eight weeks of a strength block and four weeks of competition prep. A strength block is more reps at a lower intensity, and a competition block is fewer reps at higher intensity. When we write a program, we call it a guideline - it's what we'd like to happen that day, but sometimes we get better or not as much.
'I try to have at least a couple of days off [between the end of a competition and the start of the next training block], but I'll take longer if I have it. If it's the Olympic Games, you definitely have a rest, because it's been a long build up. But it depends on what my aim is for that competition, and where that ranks in importance for me.'
How did you become interested in weightlifting?
'I was at university in my final year, and I was already competing in shot and hammer in athletics. Our strength-and-conditioning coach was also a weightlifting coach. I asked him to teach me weightlifting techniques to throw the shot further and realised that I was in love with Olympic lifting and its complexity. I trained for about eight weeks and then he convinced me to do a competition. I qualified for nationals and the rest is history.'
What's your proudest achievement been?
'I will always cherish my Olympic medal [Emily snatched 122kg and clean-and-jerked 156kg and 161kg to score silver in Tokyo 2020]. But winning gold at the Commonwealth Games in front of the home crowd [in 2022, Emily set a new Commonwealth Games record] was probably one of my most treasured moments: to have my family, friends and the people that care about me see me doing what I love the most.
'That Games I was flag-bearer as well for Team England, so to be able to lead them into our home Games was really special. The atmosphere and the energy in that room when I lifted - you'll never be able to recreate that and I don't think anybody understands its magnitude unless you were in the room. The noise and support for me was incredible.'
What have you found most difficult since starting Olympic weightlifting?
'Weightlifting is a mentally tough sport. Everyone thinks it's all about the physical but getting strong and doing the weights are the easy bits. It's the belief in yourself that's half the battle, dragging yourself into the gym every single day when your body hurts. Your body might have been prepared for a long time but if your head's not, then you're never going to lift the weight.
'Everything in your life is also affected - it's things such as, "Can I afford to wear heels at that event?" Because if my feet hurt and I can't push into the ground and lift the weights off the floor, then I've ruined a few days of training. And there's always a physical niggle.
Do you still get nervous?
'Of course! It's the night before that's the most nerve-wracking - you start imagining what's going to happen the next day. But once you wake up, it's then into the routine of doing hair and make-up, packing my bag, doing the weigh-in two hours before, and getting the fuel in and eating. Before you know it, the physio's warming you up, you're in the back room and your hands are on the bar.'
Do you get intimidated by the number on the bar?
'Nine times out of 10 I don't even know what's on the bar or pick any of the weights. When I go and lift in major championships, it's all coaches' decision. They know the numbers that I need for the medals I want. They're very sensible - we secure the lowest medal possible, then we move up.
In Tokyo, I didn't know I'd won silver when I came off. I just thought that I'd lifted really well. Even when training, I just warm up, and my coach will tell me, "Put this on", or "I want you to do that for another set, or two reps."'
What are your top three tips for beginners who want to start strength training (not necessarily Olympic lifting)?
1.Take your time
'A lot of people want to run before they can walk. But with weights, there're so many different ways you can progress - the number of times that you do it within a week or in a session, or the way you move the weight. A lot of frequent baby steps help you make big progressions.'
2. Find a training partner or good gym
'It makes it 10 times easier. If you're trying to push yourself, it's always great to have a gym partner to support you and hold you accountable, and to remind you how far you've come. There're so many different gyms - find one where you feel comfortable.'
3. Be kind to yourself
'When you start doing something, it's very easy to get really motivated and start setting yourself certain targets. And when that progress slows, or it doesn't quite pan out the way that you want it to, we blame ourselves. But success is so up and down.'
What do you rely on most for motivation or help?
'My training diary. After every session, I'll write down what sets of reps I did that day. Sometimes I write a smiley face if I think it went well, or mark if it's a PB. If I've done a programme a few times, I'll always flip back to the beginning and see what weights I started on. Sometimes I compare the numbers and see that I'm already a whole five kilos higher than when I started initially.'
Want more Olympic content?
Katarina Johnson-Thompson: 'I'm going into Paris feeling strong - mentally and physically'
Laura Kenny: 'I didn't want gold medals; I wanted a baby'
Denise Lewis: 'The progress for mums in elite sport is amazing - but I found it really triggering'
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