They are two friends who have have proven to be among the world's strongest women.
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Jane Morris and Tara Gripton - who both train at Strong 24/7 Wollongong - won their respective classes and took home five gold medals collectively at the 2019 World Powerlifting Championships in Calgary last month.
Wollongong's Morris took out the women's masters under-84kg class. She also won gold medals in the squat (145kg lift), bench (83kg) and deadlift (165kg) disciplines.
The 41-year-old said she was pleased to taste success after having a less than ideal preparation.
"I was badly injured leading into this. I have a tear in one of my disks and two protruding disks," Morris said.
"I was touch and go about whether I'd make it or not. My attitude the moment I got there was I was excited and grateful just to have the opportunity to compete.
"I'm obviously proud to win and was good enough to win on the day, but I would have liked to get a personal best.
"I'm happy, but I wanted bigger numbers than that."
Morris took up powerlifting about seven years ago, almost by accident. She actually started training to do CrossFit.
"I started training with a guy who said I had a good base for cardio, and he said let's start building your strength," she said.
"I did one powerlifting competition and I was in love, I was addicted.
"I love the mental side of it. You're constantly challenged all the time. I can't think of anything else because I need to focus on getting my lift right. It takes me away from the world.
"It gives me a focus on improving myself. This is so satisfying. Even if you have a good comp, you always want more - that addiction is never ending."
Bulli's Gripton won the women's open under-64kg category at the World Powerlifting Championships. She also took home gold in the squat (162kg lift) and deadlift (192kg).
"I was super happy, all of my hard work paid off," the 31-year-old said.
"It was my third competition back to back after competing at the national championships and at a fitness expo in Sydney.
"I'm now back home and it's nice to spend time with my family. My life over there [in Calgary] was eat, sleep, train.
"I won't take a break from training, but my next comp won't be until April."
It has been a busy few months for Gripton who has also started training under the guidance of new coach Matthew Bartholomew.
"It's all technique based [coaching]. I have re-learned my squad and deadlift technique, it's like starting from scratch," she said.
"I've done powerlifting for three years ago. I was competitive in every sport that I did and I used to do strength and conditioning [training] once a week. I decided I wanted to get stronger like the guys at the gym. I met my coach at the time and he got me into a comp after six weeks.
"I wouldn't have believed even two years ago that I could compete at the world championships. I love how strong I feel, it's never ending - you can always build on it.
"You never stop getting stronger."
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