“I don’t think we’ve ever had a crowd that immense and that reactive as well, they were sensational,” she said. “That’s all you want from a weightlifting competition. Those weights are heavy, you’ve got to lift it all by yourself, and to have that crowd behind you is fantastic.
“Tokyo was immense and very special, we didn’t even know we’d get there, and to win an Olympic medal that’s what everybody on the planet wants to do but there’s something quite special about the Commonwealths.” The dominance of her performance was impressive as she achieved her new personal best and games record in holding off the challenge of Stowers.
The pair traded Games records with their opening clean-and-jerks, before Stowers failed on 154kg to confirm the gold medal for Campbell. With two lifts still to go, Campbell raised the standard again with a successful lift of 157kg, before rounding off her competition by executing 162kg, eclipsing her total score in the Tokyo Olympics by three kilograms. Campbell also made a point of praising the staff and students of a local further education college for helping her with her intricate red-and-white-plaited hairstyle. She ended herself to many fans last summer with her blue hair in Tokyo.
“I’ve got to shout out to the people from South College in Birmingham because they did my hair this morning in the salon and they did a fantastic job of it so they saved me using my arms,” she said. “I hope people want to see how beautiful our sport is. I hope that, throughout the week, you’ve seen that it doesn’t matter what you look like, what shape you are, what size you are, you can pick up a bar and you can do it.”
The sports science graduate also took inspiration from Jamaican heritage on her father’s side and listened to carnival music during her preparations for competition. And she spoke emotionally around the conversations she had with 86-year-old weightlifting legend Precious McKenzie, who was born in South Africa but fled the apartheid regime to represent England and later New Zealand in the Commonwealth Games, becoming the first athlete in any sport to win four straight golds.
“Precious is immense, after everything he’s been through, everything he’s achieved,” said Campbell. “His words to me before I came out today were: ‘Everyone’s expecting you to win. Go out and win.’ “I couldn’t ask for better advice – just go and get the job done. When Precious McKenzie tells you to go out and win, you go out and win.”
