WORLD’S FITTEST WOMAN USES SNUB TO FUEL CROSSFIT DREAM
Tia-clair Toomey-orr is still coming to terms with the “extremely unfair” way she was left out of Australia’s Winter Olympic bobsleigh team but is using that resentment as fuel to take out her sixth Cross Fit Games title.
The former Townsville schoolgirl, now back training at her family’s Sunshine Coast farm ahead of this weekend’s Crossfit Games semi-finals in Brisbane, said missing out on Beijing was “extremely disappointing”.
The 28-year-old competed in the weightlifting finals at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
She paused her Crossfit career in 2021 to join the national bobsleigh team and it was Toomey-orr and pilot Ash Werner’s sled that earned Australia a spot to go to Beijing.
Selectors instead chose athletes Bree Walker and Kiara Reddingius to compete. They finished 16th in the twowomen event.
“It was a hard pill to swallow when we weren’t actually nominated and selected for the Australian team,” Toomey-orr said.
“It was a kick in the guts and something I felt was extremely unfair. But those kicks and setbacks are what makes sport so exciting as well.”
Toomey-orr said it was something she was still working to come to terms with and admitted there was a level of resentment there.
“I wasn’t going to allow that moment to define who I am as a person and my career as an athlete,” she said.
“I’ve been able to understand how important it is to accept what has happened and use that as energy and fuel to set me up for a really successful Crossfit season.”
The record five-time Crossfit Games winner will compete alongside the best of the best at the Torian Pro Crossfit Games semi-final at Queensland Tennis Centre from Friday to Sunday.
If Toomey-orr claimed her sixth title in August she would be the first person to do so.