Weightlifter Kiana Elliott puts ‘best foot forward’ for Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Kiana Elliott always knew she wanted to compete in the Olympics.

When she was aged just three, the Sydney 2000 Games captured her attention.

“There was a little seed planted in my head,” she said.

She thought gymnastics would be her pathway to the podium, but injury meant she had to retire from the sport at 14.

She discovered weightlifting while looking for another way to keep fit.

“I didn’t even know it [weightlifting] existed, and I found it fun,” Elliott said.

“I pursued it, and I’ve kept going and I’m still going.”

Elliott has now represented Australia in weightlifting at multiple events, including several Junior World Championships, three Pacific Games and the pandemic-delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

She competed at the Birmingham 2022 Games, having suffered an injury just two months earlier.

“There was a big question mark on whether I’d be able to go,” she said.

“I lifted about 90-to-94 per cent of my best and that was good enough for fourth.

According to the Australian Commonwealth Games website, Elliott is among 27 South Australians expected to compete at Glasgow.

‘Anything can happen’

Elliott said she was focused on being in a good headspace ahead of the Games.

“I personally don’t push too hard in terms of maximal weight and maximal attempts in the gym because I need to keep myself physically intact for competition,” she said.

“Sport is like a little microcosm of life, it’s the stories of the underdog, the triumph, the adversities, it puts you in a situation where it counts right now, so anything can happen on the day.”

Elliott said she would compete in the 63kg class against some “really great” athletes and people she respected at Glasgow.

Progressing past setbacks

Elliott’s physical preparation coach at the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI), Michael Nash, said a lot of work had been put into Elliott’s training program.

“That works with, not only what she’s previously had with her injuries [but] then building that into the Comm Games as well,” he said.

“[We] feel good about [how] she’s progressing. She’s had a few setbacks with injuries as well, so my main priority with her is to look at what she’s been doing and adjusting her sessions to make sure she’s getting the most out of [them] so she can perform as well as she can.”

He said Elliott was one of the most “technically good” weightlifters he had seen in Australia.

‘Geez, what’s happening here?’

Elliott said more women and girls had taken up weightlifting since she first started in the sport 13 years ago.

“That’s super exciting,” she said.

“Maybe I’ve played a little bit of a part of making that visible, locally I know some other athletes that made [it] visible for me.

“It’s in a gym environment, gym environments are very masculine, very ego-based and there’s something … amusing, fun, cool … to be in the gym as a female, and the guys are like ‘geez, what’s happening here?'”

Elliott described weightlifting as fun and simple.

“It’s a numbers game so it’s really, really easy to measure your progress and its addicting for that,” she said.

Elliott said she fitted training around her job at SA Pathology, where she worked part-time.

“I don’t know about balance, it’s a bit off-kilter,” she said.

“I’m really lucky to have built a really good relationship with my employer. The people that work close to me, they understand what I’m trying to do.”

She said the general public tended to believe athletes who represent their country had everything handed to them.

“And you’re set up and you’re ready to go, and it’s really not the case,” Elliott said.

“I train here at South Australia Sports Institute, just outside of the CBD in Adelaide.

“I live down by the airport, I work in the CBD, if things weren’t so close together, I couldn’t make it work.”

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