Alethea Boon has already represented New Zealand in three physically punishing codes – gymnastics, weightlifting and CrossFit – but her latest endeavour is possibly her most exciting. Just eight months after giving birth, Alethea was back at peak fitness, ready to don a lycra costume and become her alter ego, Elektra, to compete on TV show Australian Gladiators.
The Fijian-born, West Auckland-raised powerhouse has proven time and again that reinvention is her superpower. But, being approached by a show producer just five months after having daughter Leilani gave even her pause for thought.
“He slid into my DMs and at first, I thought he was joking. I replied, ‘You do realise I’m 40 and just had a child?!’ and he said, ‘That’s exactly why you should come’. When I turned up to the try-outs at a gym, there were all these beautiful fit-fluencers with their gorgeous Gladiator hair and I had my mum bun, daggy shorts and singlet – I really felt out of place!”
But Alethea wowed them with the qualities that have seen her compete at the Commonwealth Games three times – twice for gymnastics and once for weightlifting – and five times in the CrossFit Games.
“They were looking for agility, speed and strength. Being a gymnast, that shone through,” explains Alethea from the Sydney home she shares with her partner Lima.
Alethea’s athleticism started early. Inspired by Kiwi gymnast Nikki Jenkins winning gold in 1990, she begged her mum to start gymnastics. Coaches immediately spotted her potential and, by eight, she was already on an elite track. At 14, she represented New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
It was a gruelling schedule for the then-teen. She had school, training, late nights, and bus rides to and from training because her family didn’t have a car. But her love for the sport and a drive to achieve kept her going. She went on to compete at the Games a second time in Manchester in 2002. There, she placed fourth on beam, uneven bars and floor.
Alethea’s talent saw her head to the US on a gymnastics scholarship, where she spent four years competing while earning a degree in exercise science in Utah.
But her athletic career almost came to an end when, at 24, she experienced a frightening life-threatening medical event. A post-surgical complication led to blood clots in both lungs – a condition doctors call pulmonary embolism.
“I was stopped in my tracks,” says the full-time commercial property manager. “When I woke up from surgery, I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I just remember feeling completely breathless. Doctors figured out there were clots in my lungs, so they put me on blood thinners and gave me a stent on my heart. Everything went wrong. I couldn’t even walk for a while.”
It took her a year to recover, starting with slow walks and then running. Then she found CrossFit, which eventually led her to weightlifting.
“I found that as a gymnast, I had a strong upper body. So, I worked on it and got good enough to represent New Zealand,” she tells. “I went to the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 – 20 years after first going for gymnastics.
“I’d always said, ‘Once I retire from gymnastics, I’m not going back to lycra,’ but there I was! I got fifth place, which was pretty good for an old girl.”
And now she’s back in the lycra again, this time living out a childhood dream of entering “the Arena” to take on brave contestants who want to test their physical prowess against the iconic Gladiators.
“I was obsessed with the show when I was a kid and now I get to live it!” she enthuses. “I always thought the content was curated, but it’s not like that at all – the challenges are intense, they’re real and injuries happen. You have to be physically and mentally ready to take it on.”
Alethea is the smallest Gladiator at 160cm and 62kg. She underwent specialist training to help her with the body-to-body contact and tackling skills.
She admits balancing filming and home life was tough. Alethea flew in her own mother from Aotearoa to help look after Leilani and rushed home immediately after shooting, but she still felt stung by mum guilt.
“I felt bad stepping away and leaving her, but it was also nice to find myself,” she says. “I just want her to know opportunities are there and they’re possible. When we grew up, we were very limited in what we had. My mum was a solo mum of three and did her best to provide. I plan to do the same for my daughter. I want her to know it’s all possible.”
Australian Gladiators screens 6pm Sundays on TVNZ 2 or TVNZ+.
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