Sharing the weight of a dream: crowdfunding sportswoman eyes Olympics

Malta’s most recent Sportswoman of the Year, weightlifter Yazmin Zammit Stevens, spends seven to eight hours a day training in a gym, preparing for a series of events in the run-up to the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
Ms Zammit Stevens, 25, recently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in maths and statistics but did not opt for a run-of-the-mill, nine-to-five desk job. Instead, she dedicated herself full-time to the gym “with the aim of accomplishing some big goals”.
In the past two years, she has broken the national record over 70 times and is the first Maltese woman ever to lift 100 kilograms above her head.
“The Olympics are the greatest multi-sport games an athlete can dream of participating in. They are also one of the toughest games to qualify for,” she told the Times of Malta.
She was the first Maltese woman to go to the European Championships, where she finished 15th overall. She competed at the World Universiade Games in Taipei and placed 19th overall, and very recently, she managed to qualify for the final for the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, where she placed seventh overall.

Ms Zammit Stevens said she was preparing for the World University Championships on September...