Zoe Smith looks onwards and upwards2

Following the decision of British Weight Lifting to today reinstate Zoe’s funding, she has spoken of her desire to continue to look forwards to 2012 and beyond.

A press release announcing the decision to suspend her funding, issued two days before Christmas, opened the floodgates to headlines in the media, focussing on her weight.

“That was obviously hard to deal with” said Zoe, “When you strip everything away, I’m just your every day 16-year-old, and I know that none of my friends would like the idea of having to read that sort of thing written about them in the press”.

Despite this, Zoe’s mature approach to the situation has left her looking positively towards the future, as opposed to dwindling on the past. Having received unequivocal support from the media and the general public over the last month, she admitted, “That was all I focussed my thoughts on, to be honest. The fact that so many people out there went out of their way to somehow make contact with me, just to tell me that they didn’t agree with what happened. If I ever need that little kick at the end of a training session now, I just think about that support”.

Speaking about what’s on the agenda for 2011, she said, “I don’t want to focus too much on the past now as I just want to keep showing people how much dedication I’ve always put towards the sport, by continuing to produce results. People ask me if this is a big year for me and I always answer yes, but the way I see it, every year’s a big year. I always want to be better, so that’s what I intend to do!”

Despite Zoe’s commitment to training, things are on hold just for now. It’s half-term this week, and she’s off to New York early tomorrow morning on a school trip as part of her Art A-Level course.