She upped the stakes in the clean and jerk – the trickier, double-movement lift that demands superhuman levels of explosive strength and power – but was unsuccessful in overhauling the Korean with her 174kg attempt, as Hyejeong’s combined score of 299kg was enough for silver. At 288kg, Campbell’s was still a British record.
“But you have to believe in that moment, you can’t have any element of doubt,” said Campbell, who confessed to not knowing how much she was lifting late on. “My coaches gave me a bit of a b——ing after 169kg because they said I was too chilled out.”
Campbell’s relaxed persona was in stark contrast to some of her other competitors. Venezuela’s Naryury Perez Reveron shouted aggressively at her bar on each of her snatch attempts, but nothing topped China’s Li Wenwen. The reigning Olympic champion defended her title with ease but not without performing a wild shriek each time she marched up to the barbell.
