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Emily Campbell taking guidance from Team GB legend before pledging third Olympic pursuit

SportsAid Live, hosted by Marsh McLennan, brought together over 40 athletes and their families, across more than 20 different sports

By Milly McEvoy

Emily Campbell is taking Max Whitlock’s advice before making a decision on whether she goes for a third Olympic medal.

The Nottingham weightlifter made history as just the third Brit to win two Olympic medals in the sport.

Winning a medal on the final day of Paris 2024, Campbell was caught in a whirlwind of media attention and will wait until she knows she is ready to return.

“It was actually something that Max Whitlock said after Tokyo 2020, he said that he never goes back to the gym until he is entirely ready,” the 30-year-old said.

“We always rush because we always think we have go to the next target, to the next goal, and actually he put it into perspective and said ‘sit and enjoy the moment that you are in and when your body is ready it will tell you that it is ready to go back to the gym’.

“Then you won’t end up taking five steps back from where you need to be, when you are ready to commit, and your head is right and your body is right, that is when you are going to get the best results.

“And that is something that has stuck with me for a long time.”

Campbell became the first British woman to win an Olympic weightlifting medal in Tokyo with silver before claiming bronze this summer in Paris.

No Brit has ever won three medals in the support and she admits adding another slice of history to her list of accolades is intriguing to her.

She added: “I would never say never, it is in the back of my mind that nobody from Britain has ever done it three times, could I go and do it again?

“We’ll have to see, I am just enjoying the moment at the moment and we’ll see what happens.”

Campbell was speaking at SportsAid Live, with the charity having supported her during her early foray into weightlifting having previously competed in discus.

She said: “SportsAid have been part of the journey since the very beginning, before I even knew I was capable of achieving this journey, they supported me.

“And I was fortunate to be able to come and have this experience of learning from people and meeting athletes at the top of their game at that time.

“It was inspiring to do that and I could never have imagine I’d be in the position I would be in now.

“It was a puzzle piece in the story that was about to come but I didn’t know it was going to be that way.”

SportsAid Live, hosted by Marsh McLennan, brought together over 40 athletes and their families, across more than 20 different sports, to meet each other and share their experiences and knowledge, while also benefitting from mentoring and valuable workshops in areas such as mind health, sleep, performance, wellbeing and building your brand.