Australia

Disease caused permanent damage to Toua’s knees. But she’ll soon be competing at her fifth Olympics


One morning in 2013, Papua New Guinean weightlifter Dika Toua threw up blood.

She was training in New Caledonia ahead of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, and had acquired a particularly severe case of tuberculosis.

It took two weeks in an isolation ward and a specialised treatment plan to rid her body of the deadly disease.

Once she was out of the hospital, she remembers barely being able to walk. She thought her sporting career was over.

But after a miraculous recovery, less than a year later Toua won gold in Glasgow.

Now aged 37, she plans to stand on the podium again, only this time in Tokyo, representing Papua New Guinea at the Olympic Games.

Toua will make her fifth appearance at an Olympic Games later this month.(

ABC News: Michael Barnett

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The journey to qualify hasn’t been easy.

Toua’s battle with tuberculosis — a highly contagious bacterial infection that often attacks the lungs but can also get inside joints and bones — left her with permanent damage to her knees.

She used to place 25-kilogram weights on her legs before every training session in the hope of straightening them out.

A woman sits down in front of weights as four men stand around her talking.
Dika Toua and fellow Olympic hopeful Morea Baru were training in a makeshift shipping container before coming to Australia.(

ABC News: Natalie Whiting

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A further obstacle has been the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced Toua to head back to PNG after the Oceania Weightlifting Institute in New Caledonia where she usually trained had to close its doors.

Back home in PNG, she made the best of things, training in makeshift facilities with basic equipment, and taking part in online competitions against lifters from around the world.

But after the Australian government cleared the way for Toua to come over to Victoria to prepare for the Olympics, the mother of two was back in full-time training at the new Oceania Institute in the seaside town of Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula.

In Tokyo, she will make history by becoming the first ever female weightlifter to compete in five Olympic Games.

“Being recognised as the first woman to attend five Olympic Games, it’s incredible because it brings back a lot of memories,” she said.

It will be the second time Toua sets a world record – when she was just 16, she became the first female weightlifter to compete at the Olympics, when the women’s category was introduced at the Sydney Games.

“I’ve had my ups and downs, I’ve had some good and bad memories … I am sure attending my fifth Olympic Games will wrap everything up.”

Champion weightlifter inspiring next generation

Woman with blue headband and grey top smiles at camera.
Despite being one of the best in the world, weightlifter Eileen Cikamatana missed her chance to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.(

ABC News: Michael Barnett

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Toua’s journey has pushed other athletes in the Pacific to follow in her footsteps — but not all have had a smooth run.

Eileen Cikamatana is a Fiji-born weightlifter who defected from her home country to compete for Australia following a dispute with her coaches.

Considered a prodigy, the 21-year-old is one of the best weightlifters in the world and was tipped to secure Australia a gold medal in Tokyo.

But, she will be sitting out this year’s Olympic Games — the process of gaining Australian citizenship overlapped with the first round of qualifiers, and she missed out on her chance to compete.

Eileen Cikamatana, wearing a blue headband and grey top, looks down while adjusting the tape on her thumb.
Cikamatana continues to train in Australia, and hopes to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024.(

ABC News: Mala Darmadi

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Today, Cikamatana is left to train, rather than compete, alongside her idol Toua at the sporting complex in Dromana.

She was just a baby when Toua took centre stage in Sydney two decades ago.

The impact of that moment was profound – and seeing Toua on her journey to Tokyo has inspired Cikamatana .

“I mean she is a legend, she’s a big role model to us females,” Cikamatana said.

Many women in the Pacific feel discouraged to take up sport as a career, sometimes because of rigid gender roles or because of a lack of resources for female competitors.

But the success of Toua and Cikamatana — they have each won gold at the Commonwealth Games along with numerous other world titles — might be shifting the tide for women’s sports in the region.

Group of four men and two women smile at camera.
A team of coaches and supporters in Australia, led by Paul Coffa (front), have been helping the weightlifters train.(

ABC News: Michael Barnett

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Paul Coffa, their coach and mentor, who established the Oceania Weightlifting Institute, said the two lifters were an example of the talent and dedication of sportswomen in the Pacific.

He is excited about Cikamatana’s future.

“I’ve coached … [Olympic medallists] Dean Lukin and Robert Kabbas who are the greatest. She is right up there with the rest of them,” he said.

Though Cikamatana is disappointed not to represent “the green and gold” at this year’s Olympics, she is confident her time will come again.

“There’s another one in 2024, it’s not the end of the world.”



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