Tia Toomey - Second Fittest but Fourteenth Strongest

She may be the "second fittest woman in the world" but Australia's Tia Toomey is only the 14th strongest, based on the results of weightlifting at the Rio Olympics ... and that's only in the 58kg class.

The 23-year-old came second at the World CrossFit Games this year but clearly all that exercise, including bizarre events such as handstand walking, ocean swimming and "suicide sprinting" does not prepare a woman for the snatch and the clean and jerk of Olympic weightlifting

Although the World CrossFit Games does include lifting, it is not the focused type to which Toomey was exposed in Rio where she came fifth in group B, meaning there are nine lifters in Group A with personal bests well ahead of her, as well as the four who bettered her on Monday.

Nor did Toomey achieve her personal best in the clean and jerk (111kgs), failing to lift 112kgs, meaning the result sheet has her at her previous successful attempt of 107kgs. She lifted 82kgs in the snatch, for a total of 189kgs, 5kgs short of her personal best total.

"I'm not very happy with myself," she said at the end of the competition.

"I'm unhappy I missed the jerk.

"I'll have to look back and see what happened there." If she studies the record books, the Gladstone athlete will note the Olympic record in the clean and jerk in her weight category is 138kgs, the snatch is 108kgs, both set by Chinese athletes, meaning she is more than 50kgs under the best.

Story courtesy of: smh.com.au