Flag bearer Emily Campbell's precious moment

The 28-year-old, who will carry the Team England flag at the opening ceremony together with Jack Laugher, got her first experience of competitive sport at the venue before changing career from athletics to weightlifting.

Campbell last summer became the first British woman to ever win an Olympic medal in the latter when she claimed bronze in Tokyo and is now targeting Commonwealth gold.

Her return to the Alexander Stadium will, therefore, be both a proud moment and a intriguing one following the venue’s extensive facelift ahead of the Games.

“My first love was athletics and I used to compete at the Alexander Stadium,” she explained. “It used to be a pretty gritty place and I remember how the stands used to fall apart, now it’s shiny and brand new.

“I just have a lot of happy memories from the Alexander Stadium. We used to do Midland League there, Women’s Leagues there. I just remember a lot of happy times.

“I was a thrower and that is how I got into the sport of weightlifting. I wanted to get stronger. I was at university and someone told me the Olympic lifts would help me with the throwing.

“I started doing it and realised that was where my heart was. For the first year in 2016 I did the two seasons together. I remember going from the British Championships one week to weightlifting the other.

“It’s a surreal moment, you see people carry the flag and it’s such an honour to lead these athletes who are ready to represent their country,” she added.

“I’ve been so excited about these Games ever since Tokyo, this is so close to home for me and I can’t wait to get out there.”

Campbell, from Nottingham, will become the first weightlifter to carry the England flag at a Commonwealth Games since the legendary Precious McKenzie.

The latter, who left apartheid-era South Africa and moved to England in the early 1960s, was a three-time Commonwealth champion. Campbell met him for the first time earlier this year, when the two were the subject of a play, Precious Emily, performed by Birmingham schools which detailed both of their life stories. Everyone knows how much of a legend he is, how much he did for England weightlifting as a sport,” said Campbell.

“It makes it even more special to carry the flag, as he was the last person from the sport to do that.

“Precious Emily was a theatre show, about my life and his life. It was a beautiful show. I was lucky as I got to visit all the schools, so they could learn about my life. This is another reason I keep coming back to sport and wanting more, because those are the beautiful things you get to do with it.

“A lot of kids got to try weightlifting through that. The whole project has been great for the sport.

“Precious is 86 and is not slowing down anytime soon. He is a phenomenal man. He was famous for picking people up and holding them up and he is still doing it. He did it to one of the production staff when we went to watch the play.

“It is so beautiful people are starting to see the lovely characters we have in our sport.

“We always laugh and say you have to have a bit of a screw loose to do what we do. But there are some beautiful personalities in there and it is great the world is now starting to see them.”