“Me and my family do this thing where every time we see a motorbike on the road we pretend like that’s him letting us know that he’s around us.
“When I was in Australia and I was heading to the comp I said ‘Right, if you’re here let me know’ because we’d been around Australia quite a bit and we’d seen no motorbikes.
“We were turning around this corner and there were two motorbikes evenly lined up and I went ‘Okay’ and then kind of all of my problems in my head, all of my self-doubt went away.”
In a clip posted to her Instagram, Hoeta-Williamson can be seen swiftly defeating all of her opponents in the East v West Oceania Qualifiers to advance to the finals in Turkey, taking place in July.
“There will be a lot more competition in Turkey, that’s all I can really say about that,” she says with a chuckle.
Success in Turkey will see Hoeta-Williamson in November head to Dubai, where the best of the best from around the world will compete.
It was in 2020 that the Taranaki woman felt numbness in her leg, was unable to smile and without use of the left side of her body and was told she’d had a stroke. In a remarkable turnaround she used the Covid-19 lockdowns to rehabilitate and ended up coming out stronger than before.
“I worked hard every single day during lockdown to rehabilitate this, and five weeks later came out stronger on my left side then my right,” she said in a recent post to Instagram on the four-year anniversary of the event.
And now Hoeta-Williamson is the first woman in the world to equipped bench-press 700lbs (317.5kg) and a New Zealand and Oceania arm-wrestling champion.
“These past four years have been an important life lesson that if you want to achieve something, manifest it, believe it and stop at nothing to get it.”
As far as an introduction to sport goes, most people take it slowly, matching themselves up against competitors of a similar skill.
It just happens that someone of a similar skill level to Hoeta-Williamson was a reigning and five-time New Zealand champion. She defeated Ngareta Barbarich in 2022 in a best-of-five matchup to claim her first New Zealand title with her first attempt and only six months after taking up arm wrestling.
Since then she has balanced training between the sport of powerlifting, where she shot to global prominence with her world record, and arm wrestling. While the two disciplines share similarities, the muscle groups used means that training varies.
“In terms of arm wrestling you’re working the little muscles you wouldn’t usually work in any other sport ... there’s so much technique in arm wrestling, which I didn’t realise.
“With bench, it’s more working on the lats, the shoulders so they combine really well together. I only noticed because the prep that I did for arm wrestling for the past three months I hadn’t done any bench. Then I walked into the gym last night and managed 300kg for two [reps].”
Hoeta-Williamson’s nonchalant attitude to bench-pressing the equivalent of 100 bowling balls is remarkable, but says hearing people praise her for her success gives her belief that she can carve out a name for herself in strength sports.
One particular instance that blew her away was a clip that surfaced on social media of renowned British strongman Eddie Hall reacting to her world record lift.
“It was the morning, I think it was around 8am and had been tagged in something [on Instagram], I was half asleep. I literally jumped up, my sister lives with me and I started sobbing going ‘oh my gosh’ he knows who I am!
“I feel like those little achievements where you are being recognised it makes you go ‘okay, let’s see what else we can do, let’s see how far we can push it”.
“I’ve had a few people reach out and say ‘you are of that status, you’re just not as well known as him yet’ and that’s crazy.”
When Hoeta-Williamson approaches the stage to compete she has a different mindset to when she began her journey. She says going to a happy place, rather than a dark one, is more beneficial.
“I used to take myself into the darkest of my traumas and stuff like that. But I really wanted to turn it around and be in a healthy mindset.
“Just focusing on all of the positives. I remember thinking before my last match that even coming over to Australia is a win, it’s a win for me. Getting just to see another country.”
There may be a time when Hoeta-Williamson must choose between her two sports, if that day comes then she says she is comfortable with what she has achieved in powerlifting - but has more to accomplish in arm wrestling.
Whichever road she follows, she says her achievements will be done in honour of her late father, her namesake.
“I always try and honour him, I’m named after him so that’s an honour in itself.”
Will Toogood is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has previously worked for Newstalk ZB’s digital team and at Waiheke’s Gulf News, covering sport and events.
