Elizabeth Smart Just Won a Bodybuilding Competition — and Almost Didn't Tell Anyone

Elizabeth Smart has been quietly competing in bodybuilding events. This was her fourth one. Nobody knew.

She finally posted about it this week — a photo from the stage at the Wasatch Warrior competition in Salt Lake City where she took first place in the Fit Model Novice Category, second in Fit Model overall, and third in Fit Model Masters 35+. She competed under her married name. She won.

And then she explained why it took her so long to say anything.

"I was too afraid to post it before. 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."

That sentence right there is the whole story.

What She Actually Said

Smart, 38, didn't just post a competition photo. She wrote something that connected the fear of posting a bodybuilding picture to something much bigger — the way survivors of trauma get reduced to a single identity and how suffocating that can be.

"It struck me how eerily familiar these feelings and thoughts are for too many survivors. I think it's easy to be labeled as one thing, and honestly, that's not me nor do I think it's any of us. We are more than just one topic, one idea, one label."

She talked about what bodybuilding gave her — how hard it was, how it pushed her, how it challenged her not to quit. And then she talked about her body in a way that is genuinely something to sit with.

"I am so proud of my body, and I want to celebrate it. My body has carried me through every worst day, every hellish grueling experience, it's created and nurtured three beautiful children, my body has risen to every single challenge life has presented it with, and carried me through — so I refuse to be ashamed of it."

She closed with a message that had nothing to do with bodybuilding specifically and everything to do with the kind of life she's decided to live.

"I refuse to feel embarrassed about trying something new and am embracing my chance at life to the absolute fullest I can. I only hope that we all find the courage to chase new experiences, goals, bettering ourselves, and most importantly happiness."

What She's Been Through

Smart was 14 years old when Brian David Mitchell broke into her Salt Lake City bedroom in June 2002 and abducted her. For nine months she was held captive — subjected to daily rape, physical abuse, and starvation. She was found alive in March 2003 walking the streets of Utah and reunited with her family.

Mitchell is serving a life sentence in federal prison. His wife Wanda Barzee served her sentence and was released in 2018.

Smart married Matthew Gilmour in 2012 and has three children. She became one of the most visible child safety advocates in the country — testifying before Congress, pushing for legislation, and speaking about her experience publicly so that other survivors feel less alone.

She has never hidden from what happened to her. But standing on a bodybuilding stage — being judged specifically on her body's condition, symmetry, and strength — that's a different kind of reclamation than giving a speech or testifying before lawmakers.

That's personal. That's her, in her body, refusing to be ashamed of it.

First place. Fourth competition. Three kids. Nearly 25 years of building something on the other side of something unimaginable.

Elizabeth Smart on a bodybuilding stage is a lot of things at once. But mostly it's just someone refusing to be only one thing — and winning while she's at it.

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