She’s the sixth ever woman in New Zealand to put 100kg over her head during a snatch – and now she’s headed overseas to represent the country in two international competitions.

Medea Jones is a Tauranga based student athlete, who will be heading to an Oceania Olympic weightlifting competition in October, and a worldwide weightlifting championship in November.

In between her business lectures at the University of Waikato, Medea pushes herself through her training programme about 20 hours per week.

The 20-year-old also frequently lends her hand as a volunteer to both national and club level competitions, and is working towards gaining her international referee qualification.

Medea currently holds three national championship titles, and has records under her belt to prove her excellence in the sport.

“My personal best lifts are 100kg snatch, and 112kg Clean and Jerk. My current snatch personal best could put me in medal contention for the snatch competition at junior worlds this year.”

Medea will be first heading to Apia, Samoa to compete in the Oceania Junior and Under 23 Championships on October 5, 2023.

It will then be in Guadalajara, Mexico, where Medea will go up against the best in the world at the IWF Junior World Weightlifting Championships on November 15, 2023.

This year, Medea’s goal is to achieve a “podium finish” at the Oceania championships, while gaining “more international competition experience”.

Photo: Jack Bouvier.

In the long-term, Medea says the 2026 Commonwealth Games and the 2028 Olympics are firmly within her sights, and she is training as hard as she can to make her goal a reality.

“During the week I train at Mount Crossfit, and every Friday I head to Papatoetoe Weightlifting in Auckland to train with Simon Kent, who is the president of Weightlifting New Zealand.

“He has taken several athletes under his coaching guidance to world championships, as well as the Commonwealth and Olympic Games. He is helping me track my progress in relation to the international competitions.”

Medea’s father, Paul Jones, says he “absolutely loves” to see her success in the sport.

“I’ve gone from being a spectator to being fully immersed in the sport. I’ve been involved in it for the last three years, and now help put on events and lend a hand where I can.”

Medea says at the Oceania championships, she is hoping to bring home a medal, test her skills in both the overall and snatch championship, and meet her competitors from abroad.

Although her balancing her university studies and athletic journey is at times “difficult to balance”, Medea says her overall progress is tracking very well.

Currently, Medea is fundraising for her trip to the two championships, and has set up a GiveALittle for the wider community to help her achieve her goal of representing New Zealand on the world stage.

“Representing New Zealand at the IWF Junior Worlds has been a long-time goal, and is an important steppingstone towards my dream of competing in a future Commonwealth Games.”

For more information on Medea’s weightlifting journey, visit the GiveALittle page.