You could say Kanah Andrews-Nahu is raising the bar. Many times, in fact.
So remember the name of the 16-year-old Avondale College weightlifter, already on the "long list" for selection to next year's Commonwealth Games in Australia's Gold Coast.
She could be one of the next big things in New Zealand sport, coached by Olympic weightlifter and 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Richie Patterson - she already holds 78 New Zealand records in youth and junior weightlifting.
Kanah's progress can be seen in trips representing New Zealand to Malaysia last year and Thailand earlier this year, made possible by winning an AMP scholarship. Applications for this year's scholarships have opened and will stay open until August 13 (go to amp.co.nz for more information).
In Malaysia, she competed in the 69kg-plus category in the IWF youth world championships, finishing that event ranked 21st in the world. In Thailand, at the same championships, she finished 11th, breaking four New Zealand records in the process.
"The scholarship was great," Kanah says. "It really enabled me to understand my potential and, you know, weightlifting in this country is a self-funded sport. These trips cost about $2500 to $3000 and more each time so receiving the scholarship was a huge blessing and has enabled me to continue following my dream."
She is now going, again thanks to AMP, to the Gold Coast in September to compete at the Commonwealth and Oceania championships. In New Zealand, she is ranked first in the youth 75kg-plus category and the junior under-90kg category - as well as ranked second in the seniors in the under-90kg class.
Kanah Andrews-Nahu. Photo / Supplied.
It's a CV which already screams "promise" and she trains, on average, about two hours a day during the week, straight after school, at Patterson's Functional Strength gym on the North Shore.
Kanah's first foray into weightlifting underlined that promise: "I was going with my mum [Shanh] to crossfit classes when I was 13 - but I didn't really like the cardio aspect of crossfit; I liked the lifting bits.
"So one of the coaches there suggested that I and a few other young members of the gym take part in a weightlifting competition held at Functional Strength. I came second - and I broke several New Zealand records."
Eyebrows were raised about as quickly as the bar of Kanah's weights. She then entered a talent identification programme held at the Oceania Olympic Weightlifting Institute in New Caledonia. After one week training at the institute, she placed third at the Pacific Cup tournament , her first international competition.
In spite of her obvious natural potential, Kanah says she took a while to come to love the sport: "The attachment came after I acknowledged I had natural strength," she says. "It took a while for me to love the sport - it was very interesting but it wasn't something I thought I would go very far in at first.
"I had just given up my two athletics events, you see, shot put and discus - weighted events. So I guess it took a while for weightlifting to grab me; but when my growth as an athlete came about, I fell in love with it then."
The sport isn't Kanah's only aim and ambition. Weightlifting is a sport where injury is not exactly unknown and some back troubles led her to try physiotherapy, a chiropractor and an osteopath. The latter helped and osteopathy - treatment of medical problems by manipulation of the skeleton and musculature - is where Kanah hopes her studies might lead her.
Her best weight in the snatch event is 90kg and her best clean & jerk, 105kg but weightlifting is not her only sporting outlet - she also lists swimming, flippaball, ju-jitsu and netball as other pursuits when she gets the time.
It's a busy life and she admits sometimes she pulls out of training when the pressure of schoolwork gets too great.
"But this has gone way past hobby stage now," she says, "and I would love to win selection to the Commonwealth Games next year; the 2020 Olympics in Japan are the big goal."
Having Patterson in her corner should be a big help. He is the only New Zealand weightlifter since Don Oliver to go to three Olympics, with his best finish being 14th in the 85kg class; his gold medal in Glasgow was gained at his third Commonwealth Games, following a silver medal at Delhi in 2010 and competition at Melbourne in 2006.
"I just can't imagine being with any other coach," says Kanah. "He has really helped me to understand that my greatest barrier as an athlete is myself and that I really have to acknowledge the work I have put in and the progress that has come over the years.
"He also helps me to have a better understanding of my body and, when Richie trains you, you start off really small [with weights] and he shows you how to move round the bar, to get under the bar and how to push the bar."
So do not be surprised if Kanah Andrews-Nahu raises the bar...again.
