Weightlifter Tia-Clair Toomey wins gold one week after losing teen cousin in car accident
GOLD medallist Tia-Clair Toomey considered pulling out of the Commonwealth Games after the tragic death of her teenage cousin in a car accident just over a week ago – fearing it could be disrespectful to push on.
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GOLD medallist Tia-Clair Toomey considered pulling out of the Commonwealth Games after the tragic death of her teenage cousin in a car accident just over a week ago – fearing it could be disrespectful to push on.
But claiming weightlifting glory on Friday night was the ultimate way of remembering 17-year-old Jade Dixson, who was killed in the accident in Nambour on the Sunshine Coast.
“When I found out, I really thought to myself, ‘what do I do here? Am I being disrespectful if I continue with this. Is this being really selfish.’” Toomey told News Corp.
“My family have always been people that work really hard and follow through things to the very end no matter what.”
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Dixson’s parents, Mark and Julie, and twin sister, Georgia, were among the first to congratulate Toomey on her win at Carrara Sport and Leisure Centre.
“Seeing Georgia there without Jade was heartbreaking,” Toomey said, fighting back tears.
“It wasn’t about the gold medal, it was about going out there and lifting for Jade and bringing some light to such tragic news for the family.”
Toomey will take the next two days off to spend time with family with Dixson’s funeral to be held on Monday.
“There were a few days there where I didn’t know if the funeral was going to be before competition and whether or not I was going to be able to make that,” she explained. “On Monday we are actually going to be saying goodbye to her, which is going to be a really hard day. I feel like we can go into that day knowing I got gold and that was for her.
No one should have to bury their own child, she was only 17 so it is very heartbreaking. She will be remembered forever. She was the most sweetest person in the world.”
Toomey, who competes in the 58kg class, lifted a personal best snatch of 87kg. Then she hoisted a personal-best clean-and-jerk of 114kg above her head on her last lift for a gold medal winning total of 201kg.
“I am very mad and that anger at Jade being taken away from us fuelled the fire a little bit and I think that is what got me over the line,” she said.
Toomey, 24, who competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, is looking ahead to Tokyo in 2020.
But before then, the fitness queen will look to defend her title in the international CrossFit Games in Wisconsin in August. CrossFit is a sport in which athletes contest events requiring strength and athleticism.
“I am having two days off and I’ll get back in to training,” the author of How I Became The Fittest Woman In The World said. “I really want to make sure I stay focused. This has given me so much motivation to work even harder. And it has kind of taken a weight off my shoulder in that I can focus on the one thing now.”
Looking further ahead, Toomey and coach husband Shane Orr are hoping to one day be parents.
“My husband and I, we’ve been together almost 10 years and we have experienced so much together that I would love to start a family with him but we are not ready just yet,” she said. “ We are really enjoying our lives right now. I really want to see where we can take it. That is the beauty of this journey, we are not really in it to compare ourselves to others around the world. We are in it to see how good we can get and that is something we find quite exciting.”
Originally published as Weightlifter Tia-Clair Toomey wins gold one week after losing teen cousin in car accident