CHENNAI: Growing up, Tui-Alofa Patolo took up net ball following footsteps of her mother Rita Fatialofa Patolo, a Silver Ferns legend and former world champion. According to media reports, Tui-Alofa went on to represent Auckland age-grade teams and captained Saint Kentigern College's team.
But it all changed when she bought a wedding dress just before the Covid lockdown. Given her choice of a fitted dress for the occasion, Tui-Alofa tried CrossFit training to lose weight and stay active. The high-intensity fitness programme combines weightlifting, cardio and gymnastics but the New Zealander developed a special liking for lifting.
Almost 30 by the time she discovered her love for weightlifting, Tui-Alofa started training to be a professional lifter. Looking at her new-found likeness for the sport, her husband built a homemade gym inside a shipping container at their Northland home.
Five years after taking up the sport, she made her international debut at the Pacific Mini Games+Oceania Senior Championships in June last year. A credible fourth-place finish, wherein she heaved a total of 224kg (104 in snatch and 120 in clean and jerk) in the 86kg weight category, in her maiden international outing must have motivated the lifter further as she set a new Oceania snatch record earlier this year. The 113kg lift in the snatch section by her at the Oceania Senior Championships in April this year was heaviest by a New Zealand woman lifter. Her best lift in the clean and jerk section was 131kg taking the total weight to 244kg, which earned her a silver medal.
She made her debut at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games on Thursday and was in joint-lead alongside two-time Olympic medallist and most decorated British weightlifter in modern history Emily Campbell after the snatch section. With 130kg turning out to be her best lift in the clean and jerk section, she just finished out of the medal bracket in the women's 86kg weight category. After lifting 130kg in her first attempt, she tried heaving 135kg and 136kg in the next two attempts respectively but couldn't complete the lift, which meant Canadian lifter Etta Mae Love finished third with a total lift of 250kg.
As expected, Emily Campbell finished first with a total lift of 278kg (115 in snatch and 163kg in C&J). The total lift by Campbell is a Games record while her best C&J lift is a Commonwealth and Games record. Siti Aqilah Farhana Draman of Malaysia walked away with silver with a total lift of 253 (113+140). Indian lifter Martina Devi Maibam came fifth. Her best snatch lift was 105kg while she managed just one successful lift of 140kg in the C&J section ending with the total lift of 245kg.
Tui-Alofa might not have made it to the podium in Glasgow but the fourth-place is a testament to efforts she had put in the last six years. A late bloomer, Tui-Alofa might be 36 but she can still dream of qualifying for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics especially given her show at Scottish Event Campus Armadillo on Thursday.
