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Emily Campbell closed the show with a cartwheel after clinching bronze in the women’s +81kg category to become the first British weightlifter to win two Olympic medals in over half a century.
The Nottingham 30-year-old celebrated 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.
An audacious bid to muscle in on silver with a last lift of 174kg fell short but there was no disguising Campbell’s delight after finishing with a cumulative total five kilograms better than the one that sealed her silver medal in Tokyo.
“It was the best cartwheel you’ve ever seen in your life,” joked Campbell, whose medal was Team GB’s 65th and last of the Paris Games.
“My coach had been telling me at every international for a long time that he wanted to see this cartwheel, and I thought, now’s your opportunity.”
Bedecked in red, white and blue braids, and sporting an Olympic rings logo stitched in by a celebrity hairstylist she flew in especially for the occasion, Campbell looked the part as she set about ensuring she would emulate lifter Louis Martin who won the second of his two Olympic medals in 1964.
Campbell placed third after securing a personal best of 119kg in the snatch, but it was already clear that Chinese defending champion Li and South Korea’s rising star Park were in a class of their own.
Li, who was injured prior to last year’s World Championships, was a long way short of her best but still snared the gold with relative ease, lifting a combined 10kg more than Park, who herself was 11kg in front of Campbell.
The 24-year-old gold medallist clearly had plenty left in the tank and celebrated her guaranteed gold medal by rejecting her final lift and instead lifting her coach on the stage to the delight of the capacity crowd at the South Paris Arena.
Despite the slight downgrade on her shock Tokyo silver, Campbell – the only member of the British weightlifting squad to make the Games – admitted that having friends and family cheering her on in Paris made her second Olympic medal particularly special.
“The field was tough today and the level compared to Tokyo was so much higher, and I knew I had to bring out the big guns,” she added.
“It’s been a really tough road to these Games, and my family have been there every step of the way supporting me, and it’s great that they get to celebrate out here. They are absolutely nuts and they are going to be on a high for the rest of the day.
“When I started weightlifting the plan was to make the Olympics in Paris and try to go for a medal. Tokyo was a bonus along the way, but today I have achieved the goal that I set out to do.”
Having blazed a trail for the sport in the UK, Campbell is intent on mentoring future British weightlifters at her base in Nottingham University – but is not averse to making the most of her increasing celebrity.
“If Strictly want me, I wouldn’t say no,” she grinned.
