How Indonesia’s first female CrossFit Games representative Citra Ramaniya fell in love with sport in Germany

Ramaniya says she’s excited and honoured to represent her homeland this August

A software developer living in Limburg, Germany, the 36-year-old is currently crowdfunding to help pay her way to the showpiece

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Citra Ramaniya will become Indonesia’s first female representative at the CrossFit Games. Photo: Birgit Chytracek at German Throwdown 2018

Published: 8:00am, 25 Jun 2019Updated: 4:23pm, 25 Jun 2019

Born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia, Citra Ramaniya had to move more than 11,000km to find and fall in love with CrossFit.

The 36-year-old, who will become the first woman to represent Indonesia at the 2019 CrossFit Games, hails from a family of athletes. Ramaniya was a professional swimmer for the Apnea Diving Club and was Indonesia’s top fin swimmer from 2006-08.

“I started swimming professionally when I was 17 and switched to fin swimming when I was 20,” said Ramaniya, who speaks English, German and Indonesian. “I actually trained in China with some of the Chinese athletes back in the day. When I retired from fin swimming I went to Germany to continue my studies.”

Ramaniya moved to Germany in 2008 to start her master’s of science and information technology at the Kiel University of Applied Sciences. Ramaniya, who also holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Universitas Bina Nusantara in Jakarta, said sadly her athletic background didn’t make the trip with her at first.

Citra Ramaniya, who is originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, has been living in Germany for the last decade. Photo: Frank Fischbach Photography at German Throwdown 2018

“I actually found out about CrossFit just by luck and wasn’t really planning to be serious in it. So after retiring from being an athlete I wasn’t doing any sports. I work sitting down all day and I had a sedentary and kind of unhealthy lifestyle. I did lift some weights at home but that was about it.”

On the hunt to get off the couch and back to her previous active ways, Ramaniya contacted the nearest “box”, as CrossFit gyms are known. Ramaniya said her first day at CrossFit Limburg in 2016, in the city which is southeast of Cologne and northwest of Frankfurt, was an eye-opener.