CrossFit Conquest

CrossFit is like regular gym, but faster and with more handstands. It requires all-round body strength and incredible willpower. It probably helps to have a good sense of humour too, because the sport certainly has its critics. It's no wonder then, that an Aussie has won more CrossFit world titles than anyone. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
CrossFit. It's like regular gym, but faster and with more handstands.
It requires all round body strength and incredible willpower. Probably
helps to have a good sense of humor too, because
the sport certainly has its critics. No wonder then than
an Aussie's one more CrossFit world titles than anyone. Hey,

(00:28):
welcome to the ballroom where we celebrate the winners, losers,
and the weird stuff between. I'm Tony Armstrong. All jokes aside.

(00:55):
CrossFit is an epic test of strength and coordination, and
even though it feels like a young person's game, it's
actually been around for almost twenty five years. And for
sure it feels a bit like a cult and the
internet comments sections are so toxic they need hazardous waste warnings.
But true CrossFit competitors are serious athletes, which is where

(01:15):
te Declared Toomey comes in. Before CrossFit Queensland, to Toomey
was a track and field athlete. She grew up in
Cane Farm Territory and she loved to run, becoming known
for her running and hurdling as a teenager. CrossFit came
into her life a few years later via her partner
Shane or a local rugby union player who swore by

(01:36):
it for keeping him fit for ball sports. Toomey took
to it like a duck to water. Less than a
month after joining. In twenty thirteen, she was participating in
the CrossFit Open, the first step towards qualifying for the
world competition. After only two years of that, she entered
the twenty fifteen CrossFit Games as a rookie. What's that well,

(02:00):
the CrossFit website says, it's like being a high school freshman.
The big kids seem to have it all together while
you're just hoping you can find your next class and
someone to sit with at lunch. Feels like a lot
of us when we go to a regular gym. To
be honest, Tea Claire Toomey surprised everyone by taking out
second place and earning her Rookie of the Year, and

(02:21):
in twenty sixteen she returned and did it again. Both
times she was runner up. Unlike most crossfitters whose schedules

(02:44):
revolve around the workout of the day, or what as
it's called, Toomey's time in the gym was having an
unusual side effect with deadlifts, barbell squats, and clean and
jerks on the agenda, she was learning the basics of weightlifting,
a sport. Turned out she had some serious natural talent
for after just eighteen months of official training, she finished
third at the Oceana Weightlifting Championships and qualified for the

(03:07):
Olympics in Brazil, Tomy competed in the women's fifty eight
kilogram division, finishing in fourteenth place. With that World championship complete,
she returned to the CrossFit Game stage. In twenty seventeen.
She fought a close battle to beat out her fellow
Australian Karra Webb by only two points, her first win,

(03:30):
but far from her last. In twenty eighteen, she blitzed
the field, winning by sixty four points. She then extended
her margin again in twenty nineteen when she won by
a monster one hundred and ninety five points, becoming the
first woman to win three CrossFit Games. After that, she
just kept going. In twenty twenty, she put on the

(03:53):
most dominant display ever by a female athlete at the Games.
That year, Toomy won nine of the twelve finals star events,
giving her an unbelievable three hundred and sixty point advantage
over her closest competitor in second place. The very same
athlete who had beaten her years before twice. Toomey's victory snowballed.

(04:18):
She set a new game's record score when she won
in twenty twenty one, which also saw her equal the
number of wins by any crossfitter man or woman. When
Tea Claire hit the mats again in twenty twenty two,
the pressure was on. She had a slow start, finishing
event number three with the second worst finish of her career.
Did it stop her, no, sir. She stormed the field

(04:40):
over the rest of the weekend to finish once again
at the top of the podium. That day, Tea Claire
Toomey became the only person to ever win six titles
in the long and storied history of CrossFit, a record
she holds to this day. Twenty sixteen wasn't even the
last time Tomy calli for the Olympics. In twenty twenty one,

(05:02):
she won two races in South Korea in Bob's lad
that's not even in CrossFit. She and her team qualified
for the twenty twenty two Winter Olympics, though they weren't selected.
Tea Claire to me is still the only athlete to
compete in the Olympics and the CrossFit Games in the
same year. Thanks for listening to the Ballroom and iHeart production.

(05:28):
I'm Tony Armstrong and I'll speak to you soon. Catcher