Star File: Zoe Smith
Age: 20
Lives in: London, England
Zoe “Pablo” Smith may be the strongest young woman in the world.
The petite athlete—standing just 5 feet, 2 inches tall—took home the gold medal in 58kg weightlifting at the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on July 26th.
She’s the first British woman to win the top trophy at the Games. Just call her the gold medal weightlifter.
Zoe, 20, celebrated by doing an awesome backflip and smiled all the way up until she took center place on the podium next to the bronze and silver medalists from Nigeria and Wales, respectively.
But snatching the gold wasn’t enough. Nope. Pablo, who’s been lifting since she was 12, also set a record for her total lift of 201kg and 118kg for her clean and jerk lift.
She’d lifted 118kg before, but to do it on game day and win, well, that is something else.
It’s a major come up since she snagged the bronze at age 16 in Delhi in 2010; and dealt with folks teasing her saying weightlifters looked like men.
Her response to the jeers a few years ago was pretty classic: “What are you doing with your life? I’ve just competed at the Olympics.”
Check out her pix and vids on Instagram.
