History was made on Tuesday at the 2012 London Olympic Games when White Rock's Christine Girard brought home a bronze medal in the women's 63-kilogram division.

The win cemented the 27-yearold as the first Canadian woman to win a medal in weightlifting and the third Canadian overall to win a medal in the sport.

Originally from Quebec, Girard moved to White Rock three years ago and currently holds the Canadian records for her weight class as well as records for the Commonwealth and Pan American Games. She's been a part of the Canadian weightlifting team since 2002.

Girard also competed in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, but fell short of the podium by just three kilograms.

During her event, Girard cleanly lifted 103 kilograms in the snatch before failing twice in her attempts to lift 105 kilograms.

Going into the clean and jerk portion of the competition in fourth place, Girard lifted 130 kilograms on her first try and 133 on her second. With a combined total of 236 kilograms, Girard managed to snatch the third spot, beating out Turkey's Sibel Simsek for a spot on the podium.

Following her win, Girard took to her Facebook fan page to post a brief statement: "What an amazing day! Thank you to everybody who helped me get here...we did it!" Ida Chong, minister of community, sport and cultural development, released a statement later that same day regarding the win.

"Congratulations to Christine Girard for her outstanding performance at the London Games!" said Chong. "Christine's demonstrated commitment to weightlifting and her perseverance in achieving her goals makes her a motivating role model for emerging athletes. Well done, Christine and congratulations to all Canadian medal winners."

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