It all began with a wedding dress.
Tu’i-Alofa Patolo-Tipene’s rapid rise to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games began when she first picked up a barbell at CrossFit six years ago, just after turning 30.
“I needed to lose weight fast, a way to stay active because I was getting married that year,” she says.
“I’d bought the wedding dress – it was a really fitted dress, too – then we went into Covid lockdown, and I became sedentary.
“So I tried CrossFit. I thought I liked it, but I realised it was more the people I was seeing, and I hated doing burpees and running – it was the lifting I enjoyed.”
Patolo-Tipene then switched to Olympic weightlifting and now works out in the homemade gym in her backyard in the small Northland settlement of Pipiwai. Her husband, Zion, built the gym from an old shipping container, and the pair train there together every morning at 4.30am.
“I could have lived my whole life never coming across weightlifting,” the 36-year-old says. “But it’s little things like my wedding dress that have led me to finding out I’m actually quite good at this niche thing.”
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She could have continued following her mother in netball instead. Her mum, Silver Ferns legend Rita Fatialofa-Patolo, was a world champion and one of New Zealand’s finest ever attacking players.
“But netball never felt like home the way weightlifting does now,” Patolo-Tipene says.
“I think it’s so cool that in New Zealand, women outnumber men at competitions. And I love seeing the young girls competing, because I wish I’d have come across this in high school. I would have really benefitted from the lessons I’ve learned in weightlifting at a younger age.
“I would have appreciated what my body can do.”
Growing up in Auckland, Patolo-Tipene was at Lynfield College before taking up a netball scholarship at Saint Kentigern College – captaining the premier team in her final year.
“I wanted to be like my mum,” she says.
Silver Ferns wing attack Rita Fatialofa won the 1987 World Cup then coached Samoa. She also starred in softball, winning the 1982 world champs with the White Sox, and was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
Unsurprisingly, she’s been a major inspiration to her daughter.
Patolo-Tipene played netball for Auckland age-grade sides, but when she reached university, she pared it back to club level. She loved training, though: “So in my twenties, I practically lived at the gym. It’s amazing I’ve found I’m good at weightlifting, because it’s so far from netball,” she laughs.
With a Bachelor of Health Studies from the University of Auckland, Patolo-Tipene now works as a court reporter for the Ministry of Justice. The role allows her to work remotely, transcribing digital recordings of court hearings from around the country.
Working eight-to-five, Monday-to-Friday also allows her to do her lifting training at home, usually before dawn.
“When we moved to Pipiwai, I knew I had to stay consistent with my training, and we needed somewhere quick for me to work out from. So my husband bought a shipping container off TradeMe and built a lifting platform inside,” she says.
“It’s not that flash – it has holes everywhere that he’s patched up – but it does the job. My coach has lent me equipment like blocks and the barbell. So I’m really grateful.”
Once a month she travels to Auckland to train with renowned Olympic weightlifting coach Tina Ball, but in the lead-up to the Games, she’s been living with her parents, who will be in Glasgow to watch her compete.
Zion, a freelance graphic designer and Māori artist, will be staying back in Pipiwai.
“With technology, we’ll be able to talk every day,” Patolo-Tipene says. “I’m going to Glasgow to compete and do well at these Games. That’s my No.1 focus. I don’t think I’d be able to see him much if he came over.”
Patolo-Tipene first found Ball in 2020, when she went searching online for a weightlifting club. Strength HQ run by Ball – who took David Liti to two Commonwealth Games medals and two Olympics – appealed to her.
“I did half a year in 2022, took a break, and came back in 2024 and I’ve been lifting ever since,” she says.
Her first international competition was last year’s Pacific Mini Games in Palau, where she and gym-mate David Liti were the New Zealand flagbearers. “That was an incredible experience, with the whole of the Pacific in a multi-sport event,” Patolo-Tipene says.
“And I was able to hit the international standard for my category, I won bronze in the snatch and came fourth overall.”
At the Oceania championships in May, Patolo-Tipene set a new Oceania snatch record of 113kg – the heaviest snatch ever achieved by a New Zealand female lifter – on her way to silver in the 86kg+ category with a 131 total. It also secured her ticket to Glasgow, ahead of three other Kiwi lifters vying for that spot.
“One of my best friends, Judy Soloai, was also in my category, and she came close too. It was so cool competing against each other,” she says. “It’s so good we have that competition to push each other as much as we can.
“I’m one of the older lifters in the category and I love that some of my competitors are still in high school or university – it’s such a diverse group of women and girls. And even as one of the oldest, I’m still one of the newer competitors – whereas the younger girls have been around for quite a few years.”
Next week, Patolo-Tipene will travel with Ball and Liti to set up camp in Nottingham, England, arriving in Glasgow the night before the opening ceremony. “They’ve planned it so I can go to the opening ceremony for the first time,” she says.
“Sometimes I reflect on how I could easily have been living my life and never come across people like Tina and David if I hadn’t made that decision to start weightlifting.”
The down-to-earth pair have developed a close bond with Patolo-Tipene away from the sport.
“The one thing they’ve both encouraged me to do is pursue the sport at a high level – not just to participate, but to believe in myself,” she says.
“I started the sport over 30 and I had no intention of going to the Commonwealth Games when I started. But it was Tina who pushed me, and David who believed in me, and I’m so grateful to have them in my corner.
“And my husband, who’s like, ‘Why not you? Why can’t you do that?’ That’s why I’ll be fighting to land on the podium.”
