Zoe Smith, Teen Olympic Weightlifter, Rises Above Bullies On Twitter

Eighteen-year-old Olympic weightlifter Zoe Smith is one of the strongest young women in the world. But the British athlete is emotionally tough, too, as she proved during a recent online bullying attack.

A Twitter user called "infidel1978" blasted Smith and her fellow teammates Hannah Powell and Helen Jewel with a string of negative comments on the social network. But Smith held her own, responding to the comments with grace and wit.

Click here to see the exchange, as reported by Yahoo! Sports.

Since the exchange, Smith has changed her Twitter handle and infidel1978's account has been removed. Smith also responded to the comments on her personal blog.

"The obvious choice of slander when talking about female weightlifting is how they're unfeminine and girls shouldn't be strong or have muscles. This is wrong. Maybe they're right -- in the Victorian era. To think people still think like this in 2012 is laughable!"

You can watch Smith show her skills in the Olympic weightlifting events on Saturday, July 28 through Wednesday, August 1 and Friday, August 3 through Tuesday, August 7 on NBC.

Smith isn't the only teen Olympian struggling to overcome stereotypes about femininity. Seventeen-year-old Claressa Shields became passionate about boxing when her father told her the sport was for boys.

"My Grammy always said that girls can do the same thing as men," Shields told USA Today. "She said that I couldn't do just everything, but she said up in sports, I should be looked at as just equal, so I should always do my best."

What do you think of Smith's response? How do you deal with hurtful online comments? Share your story in the comments below or tweet @HuffPostTeen!