As Emily Campbell sits in the damp changing room of her modest gym on an industrial estate in Alfreton, she lets her thoughts wander to a more glamorous world.
‘I would love to take part in Strictly Come Dancing,’ says the Olympic weightlifting silver medalist Mailsport. “I like that it’s something you have to train hard for, something that will be very humbling.
‘But it’s a bit of glitz and glamour, and I love glitz and glamour. Dress up in beautiful dresses. That would be great.’
Coincidentally, Campbell has just put on a beautiful dress for a special occasion Mailsport photo shoot in which she dances in the middle of the Atlas Workout Warehouse, with five colored weights on her feet that resemble the Olympic rings.
The 29-year-old also has dark red hair. At Tokyo 2020, she had it dyed red and blue with a Team GB theme and tied into two buns. As for Paris this summer?
Team GB weightlifter Emily Campbell is aiming for a gold medal at this year’s Paris Olympics
Campbell won silver in Tokyo in 2021 and has promised bigger weights in her bid for glory
‘Everyone keeps asking and I feel the pressure!’ she laughs. “But I’ll pull something extraordinary out of the bag, I promise.
‘I have a few ideas up my sleeve. It may contain glitter and sequins.’
It turns out there was a good reason why global hair color brand Schwarzkopf signed Campbell as an ambassador. That was just one of many commercial deals that have come her way since becoming the first British female weightlifter to win a medal at the Olympics three years ago.
“That changed my life from the beginning,” Campbell admits. “I went from a girl who was never recognized, and no one even knew what I did, to walking down the street and people knowing exactly who I am.
“I’ve done some really cool things since Tokyo. Things I could never have imagined. I did Blue Peter. I created a Google ad. I was invited to the GQ Awards where Vivienne Westwood, Keanu Reeves and Stormzy were all in the room.
Since Campbell won her first Olympic medal, numerous commercial deals have come her way
‘I am beyond grateful for everything I have been involved in. But I’m still the same Emily Campbell who grew up in Bulwell.’
Campbell grew up modestly on the Snape Wood estate in that Nottinghamshire town, where she lived with her father Trevor, a decorator, her mother Lynda and her younger sister Kelsie, an international swimmer for Jamaica.
“It was nice to be in a real city, surrounded by real things,” said Campbell, whose father comes to visit her later at the gym.
‘It gave me the determination and motivation to work hard and make the best life for myself. But I had great parents who gave me one opportunity after another, and I was able to make the most of them.”
Campbell only started lifting weights in 2016 when she was studying at Leeds Beckett University to improve her strength as a promising shot putter. As such, she received no funding when she began her campaign in Tokyo.
Instead, she needed to raise £10,000 to compete in the Olympic qualifiers, so she worked full-time and called in a few favors.
Campbell had only started competing in 2016 and initially received no funding before Tokyo
“I lived at home and my mum and dad’s sofa was a huge help,” recalls Campbell, whose life is easier now that she is a National Lottery-funded athlete.
‘I also reached out to the local community and many of them helped me. I got a lot of support from the local Bulwell market, who gave me free fruit and vegetables and repaired my boots.
‘I worked full-time at a school for children with behavioral problems and then on reception at the University of Nottingham’s sports and injury clinic. I just did whatever I could to pay for the practices and games.”
Ultimately, Campbell received a small grant from British Weight Lifting to support her Olympic bid, which was dubbed “black girl money” by one jealous teammate.
“Unfortunately, one of my teammates felt she deserved the money instead of me,” Campbell said. “A nasty comment was made, but that’s life.”
Has she experienced any other racist comments? “Yes, a lot of them were devious and indirect,” she admits. ‘Unfortunately, we still live in a society where some people’s views do not match those of others.
Campbell is committed to inspiring youth of color and leaving a lasting legacy
“That’s why I try to work very hard to inspire young people of color to achieve what they want to achieve.”
And she’s faced other barriers, too.
“Brands have been put off from me because I’m plus size,” she says.
“There are certain images that brands want to portray and if you don’t fit into that box, it doesn’t work for them. You do get your trolls writing comments.
‘There’s a lot of stigma attached to weightlifting. The boys may be big and they are really impressive and everyone loves it. But with the girls it’s, “They’re fat and out of shape and look like they’ve eaten too many hamburgers.”
“I’m a super heavyweight girl, but I’m so big for performance. I’m 19 pounds, but I was 14 pounds when I started the sport and I wasn’t moving enough mass to compete against the best girls in the world.
She now believes she is able to make a change after being sponsored by Nike
‘I want to leave a legacy and I want to show people that you can be proud of whoever you are, even if you don’t look the way society says you should look. There aren’t many athletes who are plus size and a person of color. It’s all about representation. You can’t be what you can’t see.’
Campbell, who must consume about 3,300 calories a day, has long been frustrated that plus-size workout clothes are not more readily available for women. However, she believes she has the power to make a change, now that she is the first weightlifter to be sponsored by Nike.
“They said they liked me joining the conversation about what plus-size girls might want to wear,” she says. ‘It’s nice to know that your voice is heard in such a large company.
“You never know, you might see an Emily Campbell range at Nike.”
In addition to her own clothing line, Campbell has ambitions to open a weightlifting gym. But first there is the small matter of trying to convert her Tokyo silver into gold in Paris this summer, which would mean defeating China’s formidable Olympic and world champion Li Wenwen.
“It’s going to be a difficult task,” Campbell said. “She’s been one of the most dominant weightlifters for a while. But anything can happen on that day.”
Campbell won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with a personal best
Campbell took 122kg (19st 3lb) in Tokyo and then lifted 161kg (25st 5lb) in the clean and jerk, to give her a total weight of 283kg (44st 8lb), well behind Li’s 320kg (50st 5lb).
A year later she won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with a personal best of 286 kg (45th).
“I definitely have a bit more up my sleeve,” added Campbell, who claimed her fourth consecutive European title in Sofia in February.
‘I can certainly promise bigger weights in Paris. My ultimate goal is to win an Olympic gold medal.’
That, as well as another brilliant prize: the Strictly glitterball trophy.