For years, she has been the best in her sport of weightlifting for Papua New Guinea, competing at the highest levels around the world.
She sacrificed her personal time for one cause, a cause greater than herself, for the joy of winning and for the love of her country.
Looking back, Papua New Guinea’s golden girl, Dika Toua has no regrets but she has come to a realization that one day all this will be over, the joy, the glory, the training and the competition, and a new challenge will arise.
Such is the struggle most elite PNG athletes face after years of active participation in sports, that when they have played their last match and come home, there is nothing else for them to turn to after all the glamour and glory on the field.
When that day comes, Toua and other athletes alike will need something else to fall back on for themselves and their families.
And with this newly established program between Institute of Business Studies (IBS) through the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee (PNGOC), the Athletes Excellence Program, Papua New Guineas weightlifting legend Dika Toua is currently one of the many that is studying under the Excellence program.
For Toua, the realization came after she got married and had her children.
Speaking at the launch, Toua said, “I realized that one day I will not be competing anymore and will need something else to do after sports to take care of myself and my family.”
She said the program has helped her a lot to develop new skills which enabled her to acquire a job and thanked IBS and the PNG Olympic Committee for having an interest in the welfare of PNG athletes outside of sports.