Elizabeth Smart Wins First Place in Bodybuilding Competition

Elizabeth Smart is built for anything.

Days after the activist—who was kidnapped in 2002—revealed her newfound passion for bodybuilding, she won first place in her skill level for the NPC Fit Model category at the Wasatch Warrior bodybuilding competition. 

Alongside a peek into her latest feat at the Salt Lake City event April 18, the 38-year-old—who shares three children with husband Matthew Gilmour—detailed why she chose to reveal her new hobby. 

“I was too afraid to post it before,” Elizabeth wrote in an April 22 Instagram post. “Worried that I would be judged, not taken seriously, somehow perceived as less than or now unworthy to continue work as an advocate for all survivors. Then this past weekend it struck me how eerily familiar these feelings and thoughts are for too many survivors.”

While Elizabeth has embraced her survivor label, she doesn’t want to be constrained to her experience. 

“We are more than just one topic, one idea, one label,” she continued. “I am interested in many things, and as I get older I realize more and more how important it is to make the most of today, we don’t know what tomorrow brings.”