She’s won eight CrossFit Games titles, been to the Olympics, Won a Commonwealth Games title and holds a world record in another sport. It’s time the BBC World Sport Star of the Year award recognises the unprecedented dominance of Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr.
Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr isn’t just the greatest athlete in the history of CrossFit; she has built a compelling case as the most dominant athlete, male or female, in modern competitive sport.
Her recent achievements solidify this argument, demanding recognition on the world stage, starting with a nomination for the BBC World Sport Star of the Year.
Unmatched Statistical Dominance
Toomey-Orr’s record in the CrossFit Games, an event requiring elite-level proficiency in endurance, gymnastics, and Olympic weightlifting, is statistically staggering:
- The Unbeatable Eight: In 2025, she secured her eighth career CrossFit Games title. This gives her three more world titles than any other man or woman in the sport’s history.
- A Perfect 10: In all ten of her solo appearances at the Games, she has stood on the podium, holding a record three more podium finishes than any other athlete.
- Event Wins Equal Two Legends: Her career total of 45 event wins is a benchmark of consistent superiority. It is remarkable to consider that this total equals the combined event victories of Rich Froning and Matt Fraiser the two most dominant male athletes of all time.
Versatility Beyond Compare
Tia-Clair’s greatness is defined by her ability to compete and dominate outside of her primary discipline. Her versatility spans the highest levels of competitive fitness:
- Olympic and Commonwealth Glory: She represented Australia in weightlifting at the 2016 Olympics and won a Gold Medal in the same sport at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
- HYROX World Record Holder: Just recently, she conquered the hybrid fitness race circuit. In 2025, she and her partner set a new Pro Women’s Doubles world record in Hyrox with a blistering time of 54:24.
Her ability to transition seamlessly from Olympic-level weightlifting to winning the endurance-heavy Hyrox race, all while maintaining her CrossFit crown, is truly unprecedented.
The Motherhood Comeback
Perhaps the most inspiring chapter of her career is her return from maternity. After giving birth to her daughter Willow, Toomey-Orr came back to win two more CrossFit Games titles in 2024 and 2025. Her journey redefines what is thought of as physically possible for a new mother at the elite level of sport.
Another more hidden aspect of the case to be made for her being up there with the greatest athletes across any sport male or female is the amount of people she has had to beat to achieve what she has with her sustained excellence taking place within a massive global field of competition.
While numbers were down in 2025, in general around 100,000 women take part in the annual CrossFit open and even higher numbers actively compete or take part in CrossFit across the world. In Hyrox, the event in which she hold the female double world record (in a time faster than any pair competing in any ‘Elite 15’ competition), close to 250,000 women participating in 2025. Significantly, this is a similar number of women estimated to take part in a marathon each year.
That means that her dominance is akin to winning the world marathon championships eight years in a row, all while holding a world record in another sport and takin part in an Olympics and Commonwealth Games in another. This would be like last year’s winner of the BBC World Sport Star of the Year award Mondo Duplantis (also all holders of 8 world titles), Winning his titles over twice the amount if time, while also setting a high jump world record and qualifying for the Olympics as a gymnast – and if he were to do that, you can be darn sure the world media would be hailing him as the greatest ever athlete – so why not Tia?
When we consider her longevity, her versatility, and her statistical superiority against fields of competition that dwarf many specialist sports, it is clear that Tia-Clair Toomey-Orr deserves to be recognised by the BBC as the World Sport Star of the Year in 2025. Her achievements are not just a sports story; they are a historical physical phenomenon.
If you agree, post to social media using the ‘#tiaforSPOTY’ and copy in the BBC by using the handle @bbcsport
