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Dika Toua

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Dika Toua
Personal information
NationalityPapua New Guinean
Born (1984-06-23) 23 June 1984 (age 40)
Port Moresby
Height1.5 m (4 ft 11 in)
Weight48–53 kg (106–117 lb)
Sport
Country Papua New Guinea
SportWeightlifting
EventWomen's 53 kg
Coached byPaul Coffa
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals5
World finals4
Medal record
Women's weightlifting
Representing  Papua New Guinea
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow 53 kg
Silver medal – second place 2006 Melbourne 53 kg
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast 53 kg
Pacific Games
Gold medal – first place 2007 Apia 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2011 Nouméa 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2019 Apia 49 kg
Gold medal – first place 2023 Honiara 49 kg
Commonwealth Championships
Gold medal – first place 2012 Apia 53 kg
Silver medal – second place 2015 Pune 53 kg
Silver medal – second place 2019 Apia 49 kg
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Gold Coast 53 kg
Pacific Mini Games
Gold medal – first place 2017 Port Vila 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2021 Saipan 49 kg
Oceania Championships
Gold medal – first place 2002 Suva 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2003 Nuku'alofa 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2004 Suva 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2005 Melbourne 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2007 Apia 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2008 Auckland 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2012 Apia 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2013 Brisbane 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2014 Le Mont-Dore 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2017 Gold Coast 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2018 Le Mont-Dore 53 kg
Gold medal – first place 2019 Apia 49 kg
Gold medal – first place 2022 Saipan 49 kg
Gold medal – first place 2023 Honiara 49 kg
Gold medal – first place 2024 Auckland 49 kg

Loa Dika Toua (born 23 June 1984) is a Papua New Guinean Olympian weightlifter. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Women's −49 kg.[1]

She currently competes in the 49 kg weight class. She is a 15 time, and current, Oceania champion and a former Commonwealth champion.[2] She is also the current Pacific Games champion.[3][4]

Career

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Olympic games

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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.[5] 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 in sixth position.[6]

Toua qualified for Papua New Guinea in the women's 53 kg event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[7] 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.[2]

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.[8]

She represented Papua New Guinea, for the fifth time at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[9][10][11]

Commonwealth games

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In 2002 she attended the Manchester Commonwealth Games at the 48kg weight category, lifting 75kg in the clean and jerk which would have placed her 4th, official records show no weight in the snatch.[12]

In 2006, she won the silver medal in the 53 kg weight class at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] With the medals redistributed, Toua was now the gold medalist and her lift of 193 kg became the new games record.[16]

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.[17] 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.[18] In January 2019 the IWF has revoked the provisional suspension of Chanu and let to keep her gold medal.[19]

She finished in 5th place in the women's 49 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England.[20]

Major results

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Year Venue Weight Snatch (kg) Clean & Jerk (kg) Total Rank
1 2 3 Rank 1 2 3 Rank
Olympic Games
2000 Australia Sydney, Australia 48 kg 45 45 50 10 62.5 67.5 72.5 10 117.5 10
2004 Greece Athens, Greece 53 kg 70 75 80 7 92.5 97.5 102.5 6 177.5 6
2008 China Beijing, China 53 kg 77 77 80 7 104 108 108 6 184 7
2012 United Kingdom London, Great Britain 53 kg 75 79 79 12 95 100 100 12 174 12
2021 Japan Tokyo, Japan 49 kg 69 72 76 12 95 95 100 8 167 10
World Championships
2003 Canada Vancouver, Canada 53 kg 65 70 72.5 21 87.5 92.5 95 21 162.5 21
2005 Qatar Doha, Qatar 53 kg 77 79 83 9 105 105 105 -- -- --
2007 Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic 53 kg 74 78 78 30 96 101 101 18 175 22
2015 United States Houston, United States 53 kg 76 80 80 22 103 106 109 20 183 20

Personal life

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Toua gave birth to her first child in 2007 to husband, Mavera Gavera. She now has two children, Paul and Ani-Geua.[21] She owns her own weightlifting club in Port Moresby.[22]

References

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  1. ^ "Weightlifting TOUA Loa Dika". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b "TOUA Dika". International Weightlifting Federation. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011.
  3. ^ "2007 South Pacific Games: Women's Weightlifting results". Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2007.
  4. ^ The National (PNG): "Day of medals", 29 August 2007 Archived 19 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Toua lifting the hearts of an island" [sic], Olympic.org
  6. ^ "TOUA Dika". International Weightlifting Federation. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011.
  7. ^ "PNG Olympians land major sponsors" Archived 7 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, ABC Radio Australia, 6 June 2008
  8. ^ "Dika Toua Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  9. ^ Miranda, Gabriela. "Weightlifter Loa Dika Toua 'never imagined' competing in a second Olympics. She just shattered a record with her fifth". USA TODAY. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  10. ^ "Weightlifting record-breaker Dika back on platform, 21 years after Olympic debut". www.insidethegames.biz. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  11. ^ "Weightlifting-Papua New Guinea's Toua becomes first 5-time woman Olympian lifter". Reuters. 24 July 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  12. ^ "Papua New Guinea Manchester 2002 | Commonwealth Games Federation". thecgf.com. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  13. ^ Sports 123: Weightlifting: Commonwealth Games 2006: Women: -53 kg Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "Commonwealth Games Biography - Dika Toua". 8 August 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  15. ^ "Nigeria weightlifter Chika Amalaha stripped of Commonwealth Games gold". The Guardian. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  16. ^ "Glasgow 2014 - Women's 53kg Group A". g2014results.thecgf.com. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  17. ^ "Toua bags silver this time". ABC Australia. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  18. ^ "Sport: PNG lifter in line for gold after opponent fails doping test". Radio New Zealand. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  19. ^ "CWG gold medallist weightlifter Sanjita Chanu's provisional suspension revoked". India Today. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  20. ^ Rowbottom, Mike (30 July 2022). "India's Chanu reigns supreme in women's weightlifting 49kg class". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  21. ^ "Toua and family". The National. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  22. ^ "Dika Toua background". PNG facts. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
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Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Papua New Guinea
Athens 2004 		Succeeded by
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