When you think of the heavy lifting and pushing of a shot put you don't think dancing.
But for para shot putter Ben Tuimaseve, the beat and rhythm has landed him in the New Zealand Paralympics team taking on Tokyo in just 53 days time.
“I love to dance, I love to sing,” Tuimaseve told 1 NEWS.
“I suppose in this life I’ve kind of kept that quiet because I feel like I had to earn that right to dance and sing.
“It just hit today and it's pretty special to know you've done something right for all your work to sort of pay off."
Tuimaseve has cerebral palsy so movement doesn't come easy.
In fact, the para shot putter only made his international debut in 2019 but has quick-stepped his way into the Paralympics team.
With Tokyo on the horizon, Tumaseve’s coach John Eden said his para-athlete has every right to dance and sing.
“I've never met a person like Ben before,” Eden said.
“At the world championships, everyone is warming up to go and compete and he's in the middle of the arena dancing and countries from all over the world just stop and watch him for about 10 minutes.
“It's embarrassing sometimes. I'm like, ‘Ben, what are you doing?’ - but that's his way of relaxing.”
The quirk is worth it though with the power of dance helping his timing.
“If he moved that well in the circle he'd be a world champion,” Eden said.
“So I'm trying to get him to dance in the circle and things might happen.”
Tuimaseve is on board with the idea too.
“It's not quite a dance in the circle just yet but something we're working towards, eh?”
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