Smyth making light work of lifting

Such recognition in Southeast Asia next week would be positive, something with which the neglected area of Kilmarnock where she trains is unfamiliar. Shortlees is a foreboding place at the best of times, its overgrown gardens and boarded-up houses a testament to the deprivation and neglect that has worn down a proud neighbourhood, but at its heart stands a monument to opportunity and hope.

The community centre might look like any other but it is, in fact, a special place. Upstairs, hidden from view, a close-knit squad of lifters - among them British champions and even an Olympian in the shape of Peter Kirkbride - work in a compact, spartan gym under the tutelage of Chic Hamilton. Taped to a wall is a rudimentary sign, scrawled in pen, marking the weeks until the Commonwealth Games, the tattered paper shuddering each time a weight clatters against the floor. Above the throbbing music, the athletes trade jibes and encouragement in equal measure as the coach ambles around the room leaning in to offer the odd word of advice or criticism.

It was into this environment that Smyth shyly ventured just three years ago, initially invited to use the gym by cousin Georgi Black while the weightlifter did her own training. "It was just to pass the time but I fell into lifting by accident," Smyth recalls of the months between leaving school early and beginning a college course. "I remember being on the spin bike and Chic taking one look at me and saying 'weightlifter'. Georgi laughed but I thought 'why not?' and I gave it a go. From then I started going in all the time."

Within weeks, Smyth was lifting competitively and found that, not only was she good at it, but also that it was helping shape her life. "Chic entered me into a competition without asking and I had to wear one of the boys' leotards but I loved the whole experience," she says. "It grounded me, really. I didn't have anything to focus on between school and college so the lifting set me up for college and helped me get my HND in sports coaching because I had a sport that was close to my heart and that I cared about."

It has done so much more for her since then, too. Smyth is one of a squad of Kilmarnock Amateur Weightlifting Club members who will fly to Malaysia this evening for one of the biggest events in the sport's calendar, with over 400 athletes gathering in Penang for senior, junior and masters competitions.

Initially a 63kg lifter like her cousin, she has moved down to the 58kg category on Hamilton's advice to maximise her chances of being in Glasgow next summer and shed around five kilos of body fat at the beginning of the year. It is in the lighter division that Smyth will take to the platform on Tuesday but she must first complete a gruelling pre-competition routine to ensure she meets the criteria. It is one she has grown accustomed to, given that her training weight sits at around 60kg, but that does not make the cycle of small meals, training and sauna stints any more palatable.

"It's easy enough to strip down and hit 58kg on the day," she says, rejecting notions that it cannot be good for her health, let alone her performance. "I've done it a few times and there was one competition where Chic was worried because I lost a lot of weight quickly but I did well that day. Other lifters might be different but it hasn't caused me a problem so I don't get too worried about it.

"It's a complete lifestyle thing because I have to plan my days around my meals. That means if I'm staying at my boyfriend Keir's house I need to make sure there is something there for me to eat because we can't just phone in a takeaway. Not only will it make me feel guilty, but it will make it even harder to make the weight the next time."

As it stands, ill-discipline or injury are the only things that can prevent Smyth taking her place in Glasgow. Not only has she met the qualification standard on three occasions - and expects to do so again next week - but the lack of competition in the 58kg division means that she is almost certain to be confirmed in Team Scotland sometime in the spring. Not that she would state such a thing herself. "When people ask me if I'm going, I don't want to say 'yes' in case I jinx myself," she admits. "If I do the standard four or five times then I should be picked but you just never know . . .

"It wouldn't be a dream come true but only because it's a dream that I never had; I never imagined I'd compete as an elite athlete three years ago when I first walked into the gym. I had no plans or ambitions to do all this but it would still mean the world to me and to my family. Happy is a silly word to use - buzzin' is probably better - but to be 21 [next summer] and doing such an amazing thing would have been unthinkable just a few years ago."