EMILY Campbell hopes the enhanced exposure of weightlifting at Tokyo 2020 will inspire the next generation of power-packed female medal winners.
The 27-year-old from Nottingham became the first British female weightlifter to win an Olympic medal after taking silver with a lift of 161kg in the +87kg final.
She edged out USA’s Sarah Robles by just one kilogram at the Tokyo International Forum but couldn’t better Li Wenwen’s Olympic Record-setting lift of 320kg.
She spoke at the Olympic Stadium after attending ‘I Am Team GB’s’ ‘Festival of Sport’, an event organised by Team GB and Toyota offering free and fun sporting activities to help people get active alongside their Olympic heroes.
“Especially for us in weightlifting, we just want to get more and more people involved and get more and more kids involved,” said Campbell.
“We want to open up the awareness that they can do this at a younger age as long as they work on technique, this a fantastic time for the sport.
“There might be some kids here who are going to be the next people to bring back another medal for us weightlifters.
What a brilliant way for me to finish for the summer! Loved meeting these legends @galal_yafai and @Brownskinjessie every bit as humble and impressive as you’d imagine 🔥🥊💪 pic.twitter.com/OLQ7mrllOa
— Ben Shephard (@benshephard) August 11, 2021
“The reaction has been crazy, I want to make a public apology to all the children who want half blue, half red hair and their parents, I’m sorry about that, but the reaction to me coming back has been second to none.
There were free hero events at the Olympic Stadium, the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, plus a family fun day at Paulton Park, the home of Team GB’s newest recruit Peppa Pig, while other events took place all over the country on August 14 and 15.
The event at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford started with a ‘Lap of Honour’ around the London Stadium within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, followed by activities delivered from the main stage by local clubs, NGBs and other activity providers.
Campbell added: “I Am Team GB’ is important because there are not always opportunities for young people to get involved.
“Things aren’t always signposted, and they don’t always know what they enjoy or what they’re going to be good at, so this is a really good event for people to try everything, enjoy themselves and then have some food for thought about what they’re going to do moving forward.
“We want everyone to feel like they’re included, we don’t want one person to feel like they’re not a part of it because this is for everybody.
I Am Team GB is already a much-loved and successful mass participation event, having seen over one million people in the UK take part after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and welcome home the country’s history making athletes at their local sports clubs and community events.
Over 4,000 people attended the I Am Team GB Festival of Sport event at the London Olympic Stadium. This is added to the thousands more taking part in events across the country.
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 14, 2021
We hope you had as much fun as we did!! 🤩 🇬🇧
Supported by @ToyotaUK #GetUpGetActive #IAmTeamGB pic.twitter.com/XMDNqJYLAj
Team GB Commercial Director, Tim Ellerton, added: “We are really excited to have launched I Am Team GB. With the support of our presenting partner Toyota, we created a host of free events up and down the country for those inspired by the Olympics to get up and active this summer, with a festival of sport on August 14 and 15.”
The ‘Festival of Sport’ harnessed the incredible stories of Team GB athletes in Tokyo to inspire men and women, boys, and girls across the UK to ‘Get Up and Get Active’ at free and fun events held around the country across the weekend of August 14 and 15.
Tom Whiteside, Sponsorship Manager for Toyota said: “Toyota is all about promoting mobility, so to activate our sponsorship of Team GB we wanted to create something in partnership that enabled us to take the magic of the Olympics and inspire people to get up and get active, irrespective of age, experience or skill level and I Am Team GB gives us the perfect opportunity for us to do just that and we have more exciting activations to announce over the course of the campaign.”
If you want to get involved; go to IAmTeamGB.com to find an event near you
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