Emily Campbell’s father ‘over the moon’ at daughter’s weightlifting silver medal

The father of Olympic silver medallist Emily Campbell has said he is sure that his daughter will win gold at the Paris Games in 2024.

Emily Campbell, from Nottingham achieved the first ever women’s Olympic weightlifting medal for Great Britain with silver in the +87kg category in Tokyo on Monday and is the first Briton to win a medal in the sport since 1984.

Campbell went into the clean and jerk section of the competition in fourth place but successive lifts of 156kg and 161kg sealed her historic place on the podium.

Her father Trevor Campbell said: “I am so proud of my daughter; I know how hard she has worked to get to this position, so I am proud for her doing it.

“She has been training really, really hard, we have had no sponsorship at all, just mum and dad’s bank, so for her to come out with a silver medal at the Olympics, I am so over the moon.

“You have not heard the last of her.”

After Campbell’s silver on Monday, her father insisted that the athlete’s main focus is winning gold in 2024 and she is planning on taking part in three competitions before then.

The 27-year-old achieved bronze at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and won this year’s +90kg category at the European Championships in Moscow.

Athleticism runs in the family, as Emily’s sister Kelsie Leigh Campbell is a swimmer who competes internationally for Jamaica.

Mr Campbell hopes to see both of his daughters competing at the same Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.

He said: “My ideal situation is to watch them both in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. I think it’s possible because my daughter is so close to the qualifying times at the moment, and I have got no doubt that she can achieve it.”

Mr Campbell gives huge credit to the family’s home community in Bulwell in Nottinghamshire for supporting Emily on her journey to the Olympics and said their home has been full of friends and family watching and supporting her.

He said: “Everybody knows Emily and sponsored her, all the ‘little people’ are what has kept her going through the years and through any financial difficulties, they were all here and they all love seeing her achieve something.”