Tia-Clair's Story
Queenslander Tia-Clair Toomey has earned herself a cult following of both Weightlifting and Crossfit fans across the world and it's easy to see why. Among her many achievements, Australia's number one female Crossfitter and number six in the world, also boasts the title of three-time "Fittest Woman on Earth."
After being runner up in 2015 and 2016, Toomey became the first woman in history to have ever claimed the consecutive triple, when she took out the title in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Impressively, it was only a few years ago that Toomey started lifting, after previously spending her time in track and field. She took up Crossfit in 2013 and was later approached by Weightlifting coach Miles Wydall who encouraged her to make a run at representing Australia at Rio 2016.
Toomey began to make her mark at the 2015 Crossfit Australian Open, shattering her previous personal best, snatching 83 kilos and clean and jerking 111 kilos with a 58-kg body weight. Her performance cemented her spot on the 2016 Team at the Oceania Championships in Fiji, where she lifted a higher percentage of the Rio qualifier than any other Australian female competitor in her division category.
Toomey then made her Olympic debut at Rio, which was only her third international competition, not to mention a huge feat for someone who had only started lifting competitively 18-months prior.
The Queenslander recorded a lift of 82kg on her third attempt in the snatch. After successful first and second attempts, Toomey paced herself to line up for a 112kg clean and jerk attempt but failed to lift the weight. She finished fifth in her group and 14th overall with a total of 189kg.
Toomey recently won the gold medal at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, performing a final lift of 114kg and finishing with a total of 6 lifts for 201kg.
She is the only athlete to participate in the CrossFit Games and Olympic Games in the same year and credits her partner, fellow Crossfitter and Weightlifter, Shane Orr as inspiration.
"I have put a lot of work in over the past few years in order to achieve my goals but it couldn’t have been possible without the support and guidance from my partner Shane Orr.
"He has been the one to believe in my dreams from the very beginning when no one else did and has done everything in his power to help us succeed as a team in our CrossFit and Weightlifting journey."
Toomey has documented her incredible rise to success in her book, 'How I became the fittest woman on earth.'
