Loa Dika Toua (born 23 June 1984) is a Papua New Guinean Olympian weightlifter. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in the women's 49 kg class.
She currently competes in the 49 kg weight class. She is a 15 time, and current, Oceania champion and a former Commonwealth champion. She is also the current Pacific Games champion.The National (PNG): "Day of medals", 29 August 2007
Career Olympic games At just 16 years of age, she was the inaugural woman to lift weight at an Olympic event, competing in the 48 kg category at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics."Toua lifting the hearts of an island" [sic], Olympic.org Toua finished in tenth place with a total lift of 117.5 kg.
She was the national flag bearer at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. This time competing in the women's 53 kg weight class, she lifted a total of 177.5 kg to place sixth.
Toua qualified for Papua New Guinea in the women's 53 kg event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing."PNG Olympians land major sponsors" , ABC Radio Australia, 6 June 2008 There she ranked 7th with a total lift of 184 kg which was her highest personal lift overall at any Olympics she has attended to date.
She again, for the fourth consecutive time, represented Papua New Guinea at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. Lifting a total of 174 kg, the veteran weightlifter finished in 12th after Zulfiya Chinshanlo of Kazakhstan and Cristina Iovu of Moldova were disqualified.
She represented Papua New Guinea, for the fifth time at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she placed 10th.
Commonwealth games In 2002 she attended the Manchester Commonwealth Games at the 48 kg weight category, lifting 75 kg in the clean and jerk which would have placed her 4th, official records show no weight in the snatch.
In 2006, she won the silver medal in the 53 kg weight class at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.Sports 123: Weightlifting: Commonwealth Games 2006: Women: -53 kg It was her first major achievement at an international competition.
Competing in the same category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, she won the silver medal, with a lift of 193 kg, just 3 kilos short of the gold and new games record. Days later, the original gold medalist, 16-year-old Chika Amalaha of Nigeria failed a doping test and was stripped of her medal and placement. With the medals redistributed, Toua was now the gold medalist and her lift of 193 kg became the new games record.
In 2018, competing in her third games in the Gold Coast she placed second once again for her second Commonwealth games silver and third medal overall. She was 10 kilos behind the gold medalist after failing her last two lifts. A month after the games ended the International Weightlifting Federation, in June, announced that the original winner, Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu of India, tested positive for testosterone from her A sample after the 2017 World Championships. The IWF had stated that if the Indian weightlifters B sample also returns positive. In January 2019 the IWF has revoked the provisional suspension of Chanu and let to keep her gold medal.
She finished in 5th place in the women's 49 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England.
Major results Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank 1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 Rank Olympic Games 2000 Sydney, Australia 48 kg 45 45 50 10 62.5 67.5 72.5 10 117.5 10 2004 Athens, Greece 53 kg 70 75 80 7 92.5 97.5 102.5 6 177.5 6 2008 Beijing, China 53 kg 77 77 80 7 104 108 108 6 184 7 2012 London, Great Britain 53 kg 75 79 79 12 95 100 100 12 174 12 2021 Tokyo, Japan 49 kg 69 72 76 12 95 95 100 8 167 10 World Championships 2003 Vancouver, Canada 53 kg 65 70 72.5 21 87.5 92.5 95 21 162.5 21 2005 Doha, Qatar 53 kg 77 79 83 9 105 105 105 -- -- -- 2007 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 53 kg 74 78 78 30 96 101 101 18 175 22 2015 Houston, United States 53 kg 76 80 80 22 103 106 109 20 183 20
Personal life Toua gave birth to her first child in 2007 to husband, Mavera Gavera. She now has two children, Paul and Ani-Geua. She owns her own weightlifting club in Port Moresby.
References
External links
Dika Toua at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics (archived) Dika Toua at Yahoo! Sports