Dika Toua is seeking to lift at a sixth Olympic Games ©Getty Images

Dika Toua, the first female weightlifter to compete at the Olympic Games five times, has begun her quest to make it six.

No athlete, male or female, has ever done that.

Toua, a 38-year-old mother of two from Papua New Guinea, lifted on the opening day of the 2022 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in Bogotá, Colombia, the first qualifying event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Four of the 11 lifters in Toua's session were 21 years younger than her at 17.

She made five of her six attempts for 70-95-165 in the women's 49 kilograms C Group, despite being sick before her first clean and jerk.

"I was throwing up, maybe I had eaten too much," she said.

With more than 20 rivals in the A and B Groups whose totals might be 10 to 30kg higher, she acknowledges that her best chance of qualifying is not by finishing in the top 10 in the rankings but through continental representation.

Dika Toua is 21 years older than Huang Yi-chen from Chinese Taipei, right, who she lifted alongside today ©ITG
Dika Toua is 21 years older than Huang Yi-chen from Chinese Taipei, right, who she lifted alongside today ©ITG

If she makes it as the highest-placed Oceania athlete she will lift at the Olympic Games aged 40.

Toua became a weightlifting history-maker as a 16-year-old when she was the first female ever to lift at the Olympic Games, when women were welcomed on to the Olympic schedule at Sydney 2000.

That was in the old 48kg category, and here she is 22 years later weighing only 1kg more.

"I have never weighed more than 53kg in my life," she said.

Asked what gets harder as the years go by, Toua said it was not so much gym work as recovery.

"The hard part is after training, it might be ice packs, sitting in a cold bath or going for a swim - depending on the weather of course.

"You don’t want to be in the sea in winter in Melbourne!"

Dika Toua's daughter Anigeua, 12, recently competed at the Papua New Guinea National Championships ©Dika Toua
Dika Toua's daughter Anigeua, 12, recently competed at the Papua New Guinea National Championships ©Dika Toua

Toua, whose husband Willie Tamasi is Papua New Guinea's national coach, splits her time between her home village of Hanuabada and Melbourne, where her long-time coach Paul Coffa is now based.

Coffa, who has coached more than 100 medallists at major championships, became the first coach to be inducted into the IWF Hall of Fame at the weekend.

After returning from Colombia, Toua is planning to train in Papua New Guinea before heading to Melbourne in January with the entire family to prepare with Coffa for more qualifying events, including the Pacific Games in the Solomon islands in November.

Her son Paul, 16, is not a weightlifter but her daughter Anigeua recently competed at the Papua New Guinea National Championships for the first time, aged 12, and could benefit from some of Coffa's tuition.

"She’s into netball, athletics and weightlifting so we’ll see how it goes from here," said Toua.