Last updated on .From the section Scotland

Jodey Hughes has won the Scottish Championship three years in a row

Jodey Hughes sat in the crowd watching weightlifting at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and thought 'I could do that'.

Almost four years later and the Scot is proving it.

Hughes, 34, has booked her spot for the Gold Coast 2018 Games and cannot wait to compete at her first major event.

"It still feels a little bit like a dream and to be told I'm going to the Commonwealth Games was the best news I've ever had," Hughes said.

Canada-born Hughes is one of four Scottish weightlifters heading to the Games in Australia in April, having enjoyed a rapid rise in the sport.

"Cross-fit opened here in East Kilbride and I thought, 'I'm competitive, this is exactly what I want to do'," Hughes told BBC Scotland.

"I was decent at it, I didn't really like the cardio side of things, but I liked the lifting.

"At the last Commonwealth Games, I was sitting in the audience thinking, 'I could do that - I could go to the Games'."

To achieve her goal, Hughes had to get started quickly.

The 2014 British Championships were her first target, with the event being held just 12 weeks after she started the sport.

Hughes, Zach Courtney, Lisa Tobias and Scott Wilson (not pictured) make up Scotland's team for Gold Coast 2018

"Ken Holland, my coach, said he could get me to the British Championships. He said 'Here is your programme, if you follow it, we can get you there'," Hughes said.

"I'd been weightlifting for three months at the time, so he got me a qualification total.

"I wasn't really competitive that year, then the second year we came back and after following his programme for 12 months I ended up being sixth place going in."

Hughes has been Scottish Champion in the each of the three years since and holds the Scottish record for snatch in the 58kg bodyweight class.

Last summer she picked up a silver medal at the British Championships in Coventry, an achievement that further boosted her self-belief.

"I worked so hard and I knew I'd be competitive," Hughes added. "I am just going from strength to strength."

Thanks to her qualifying performance, Hughes has already secured a spot in the A Final at the Gold Coast Games, competing in the 58kg class. And she hopes that her pathway to prominence in the sport inspires others to follow her lead.

"Weightlifting is an obscure sport for females," she said. "At first I didn't want to lift weights, I didn't want to get bulky. I didn't want big legs. I was scared at what it would do to my body.

"Now I just want to be strong, progress and lift bigger than the boys."