Teen weightlifter snatches Silver medal at British Championships

Wednesday 19 September 2018

A local teen weightlifter, who was making history at the British Weightlifting Championships over the weekend as the first female from Jersey to ever take part in the competition, has won a Silver medal just over five months after starting training.

The Championships were 14-year-old Charlotte Neale's second ever competition.

Charlotte told Express that taking part in the Championships was quite scary and that the waiting was nerve-wracking. "The weigh-in was at 11:00 so we woke up quite early," she explained. "Then I walked around for a bit because the competition was only starting at 15:00.

"I started warming up around 14:00 but I didn't make any of my snatches (a type of lift where the athlete lifts the bar from the ground to overhead in one continuous motion). I kind of freaked out because I didn't managed to make any good ones before actually competing."

Luckily the teen recovered her spirits and managed to do all of her 'clean and jerks' (another type of lift that includes two different movements). She then went on to manage two good snatches. "On my last one, I failed because my elbow touched my knee," she explained, adding "I need to clean up my technique!"

Charlotte's performance earned her a spot on the podium, which she says she was very happy and excited about. It was however not enough for the young girl. "I was quite disappointed that I didn't win," she admits, laughing.

Pictured: "I was quite disappointed that I didn't win," Charlotte admitted.

The teen will surely have many occasions to win in the future. While she only started training in April as part of the Jersey Sport Foundation's (JSF) 'Power to Podium' which aims to to prove that Jersey can produce athletes able to compete at high level, the charity has high hopes for her. 

During her first ever competition last month, Charlotte lifted nearly double the weight she needed to to qualify for the British Championships. Speaking a few days after, John Scriven, Head of Services at JSF, said she had the potential to win medals at the Olympics in the future. 

He added: "She is twice as strong as some of the other athletes in her group. She had a broken foot when she came for the trial, but we saw she had lots of potential. She is a special young athlete and we want to work on her long-term development. We don’t want her to go into competitions for the glory of it but because she is capable of it.”

Pictured: Charlotte (bottom right) with the weightlifting team.

Charlotte will have to wait a few months to get back on the competing circuit as the JSF wants her to focus on her training and to keep lifting because she enjoys it.

The teen was already back in the lifting room yesterday along with the rest of the team, Grace Bravery, Florrie Copley, Abbie Le Marquand, Rachel Leck, Laura Makin, Hannah Medder, Amy Moore, Rhea Munro, Katie Penn, and Samantha Petrean