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Cross Fit Games: Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr motivated by Winter Olympics snub

Erin SmithNews Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
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Camera IconNot Supplied Credit: Supplied

Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr is still coming to terms with the “extremely unfair” way she left out of Australia’s Winter Olympic bobsleigh team but she is using the resentment as fuel to take out her sixth Cross Fit Games title.

Toomey-Orr, who has been back training at her family’s Sunshine Coast farm ahead of this weekend’s Cross Fit Games semi-finals in Brisbane, said not getting a chance to compete in 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.

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Camera IconTia-Clair Toomey is using her Winter Olympics snub as motivation. Credit: News Regional Media

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.

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Selectors instead chose athletes Bree Walker and Kiara Reddingius to compete. They finished 16th in the two-women event.

Walker, a former 400m hurdler, finished fifth in the inaugural women’s monobob race.

“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 is something she was still working to come to terms with and admitted there was a level of resentment there.

World's fittest athlete Tia-Clair Toomey was hoping to make Australia's Winter Olympic Team in the bobsleigh. Instagram
Camera IconWorld's fittest athlete Tia-Clair Toomey was hoping to make Australia's Winter Olympic Team in the bobsleigh. Instagram Credit: Supplied

Missing out, after putting her life on hold and switching to a new sport, temporarily zapped Toomey-Orr’s motivation.

“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.”

Toomey-Orr could have qualified for the CrossFit Games by competing in an event near her US home in Nashville but the chance to see her family and friends and compete in front of a home crowd for the first time in three years was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“To finally have everything that I want, right here together makes you feel like you are on top of the world,” Toomey-Orr said.

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Camera IconFive Time CrossFit Games Champion and Fittest Women on Earth Tia Clair-Toomey is home to compete in the Torian Pro, Brisbane. Liam Kidston Credit: News Corp Australia

“It has been such a great prep and lead in to the Torian Pro CrossFit Games semi final.”

Her normal competition nerves have been replaced by pure excitement.

“I have to actually contain my excitement because if I get too excited, I’m worried I’ll go crazy and get on the competition floor and not be able to stick to my plan,” she said.

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.

Tia-Clair Toomey is a world-class athlete.
Camera IconTia-Clair Toomey is a world-class athlete. Credit: The Courier-Mail

If Toomey-Orr claimed her sixth title in August she would be the first person in the history of the games to do so.

She isn’t letting the pressure get to her though.

“I’m just taking it one workout at a time,” Toomey-Orr said.

“The goal is obviously to get that sixth title but right now I don’t want to think too far ahead, I’m just trying to stay in the present, take it all in and enjoy it.”

As for the future – Toomey-Orr said all her focus was on the CrossFit Games finals, but she didn’t rule out vying for a spot on the weightlifting team for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Originally published as Cross Fit Games: Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr motivated by Winter Olympics snub

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