WEIGHTLIFTING: Two Australian teenagers with just 12 months of training under their belts have snatched their spots on the 2014 Australian Youth Olympic Team.

Sixteen-year-old Kiana Elliot and seventeen-year-old Aydan McMahon will be Australia’s weightlifters at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Nanjing, China.

Initially trained as an elite gymnast, Elliot traded grace for grunt and never looked back.

“The sport encompasses so much more than just ‘brute strength’, which although is incredibly useful, often forms the entirety of the stereotype of the sport,” Elliot explained.

Elliot is not your average HSC student from Abbotsleigh on the upper North Shore. When the bell rings at the end of the school day, she trades the private school blazer for some serious lycra.

“I was ecstatic to hear the news,” Elliot said when her place in the Youth Olympic Team was confirmed. “I can’t wait to experience this awesome opportunity.”

Training five days a week, the Thornleigh resident lifted her way to the YOG by winning the 63kg category at the recent YOG selection event in New Caledonia. She also took silver in the junior 63kg division and was named best female lifter across all weight categories.

McMahon, from the Snowy Mountains town of Tumut, finished third in the youth men’s 69kg division.

“I was definitely happy with my results… Like any experience, I have taken away multiple aspects to learn from and to build myself as an athlete,” a focused Elliot explained.

An unlikely transition for an athlete accustomed to the balance beam, vault and gymnastics apparatuses, Elliot has a unique passion for her newly adopted sport.

“I like the whole idea of maximal effort- of aiming to concentrate all of one’s energy into one short burst. However, this ‘burst’ has to be calculated and controlled as well. As weightlifting is highly technical, each lifter fights to find the most biomechanically efficient way to lift a barbell in the snatch and clean and jerk, because greater efficiency equates to being able to lift more weight.

When the YOG begins on August 16th, athletes complete a snatch and clean and jerk for a total score. In the snatch athletes lift the weight straight from the ground to above their head; the clean and jerk requires athletes to the weight onto their shoulders before raising it above their head.

“My goals for Nanjing are to perform to the best of my ability. If the circumstances result in my chance of a medal, you can be sure that I will give my all for that chance.”

Australia has been represented in women’s weightlifting at every Olympics since women’s weightlifting was added to the Olympic program in Sydney in 2000. This too is on Elliot’s radar. 

“The Olympics would definitely be the ultimate goal, I really want to see how far I can go in this sport and I believe I am capable of getting there.”

Elliot and McMahon will be part of an 89-strong Australian Team in Nanjing headed up by Chef de Mission, Susie O’Neill.

Taya Conomos
Olympics.com.au
@AUSOlympicTeam

2014 Australian Youth Olympic Team - Weightlifting Section:
Name (age)
Kiana Elliot (16)
Aydan McMahon (17)