CrossFit Duo Tia-Clair Toomey and Shane Orr Announce a Big Move
Tia-Clair Toomey won her fourth CrossFit Games in October of 2020. Now it seems she already has her eyes set on two more challenges: Moving and qualifying for the Australian Women’s Bobsled team for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. On Dec. 11, 2020, the Fittest Woman on Earth® announced over Instagram that she and her husband and trainer Shane Orr are moving from their current residence in Cookeville, TN.
This is significant in part because Toomey has spent most of the last two years training as a duo in Cookeville with five-time CrossFit Games winner Mat Fraser. When this article was written, Fraser had yet to comment on Toomey and Orr’s move, or whether he’s also planning a relocation that would allow them to keep training together.
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Toomey and Orr moved to Cookeville in 2018 from Australia to train at Rich Froning Jr.’s gym CrossFit Mayhem. In doing so, she joined Mat Fraser, who started training at CrossFit Mayhem in 2017. Together, the two push each other harder and, as a result, remain the two most dominant CrossFit athletes ever to compete. Toomey has yet to announce where she and Orr — who is now also training Brooke Wells — will be moving and for what reasons.
However, her move could be linked to her recent foray into bobsledding. On an episode of the Big Idea, Big Moves podcast, Toomey revealed her intention to qualify for the Australian Women’s Bobsled team. That specific segment of the podcast starts at the 31:30 mark.
On Dec. 13, 2020, Toomey released a YouTube video confirming that she and Orr will be moving to South Korea to train with the Australian bobsled team, who approached Toomey about joining the squad in hopes of qualifying for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. You can check out the full video below.
“After figuring out if it would align with the CrossFit season, it was something I was interested in” Toomey said in her YouTubbe video. “So, the time has come where we drove up to Boston…to submit our Korean visa — a short three-month visa — to go over to South Korea with the team to learn all of the tips and tricks.”
This wouldn’t be Toomey’s first time in an Olympic Games. She competed in the 58-kilogram (128-pound) weight class in weightlifting at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio. She came in 14th place. Two years later, Toomey won the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast in the same weight class.
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[Related: Here’s Why so Many CrossFitters Are Flocking to Bobsledding]
“It’s going to be pretty interesting. Tia is very fierce,” James Newbury — a four-time CrossFit Games veteran who is currently training with the Australian Bobsled team — tells BarBend. “She’s a very, very fast runner…and has a pretty outstanding background in Olympic weightlifting, as well. I think she’ll do extremely well. She’s tough.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Dec. 15, 2020, to include Toomey’s recent YouTube video.
Featured image: @tiaclair1 on Instagram