Weightlifter Juliana Riotto: 'I Started Building A Family Around Me'

Juliana Riotto competes at the 2022 North American Open Series 1 on March 6, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio.

What’s in a name? If it is given to you by someone else, not much. But when you choose it yourself, maybe everything.
For Juliana Riotto, the perfect moniker came by chance one evening at a nightspot near her home in upstate New York, when she bumped into a new friend.
“We were at a club, and we ran into each other,” Riotto, now 24, remembered. “She said, ‘Dude, you’re just so big, not in fat way — you look like you could deadlift my whole family. You’re like the lesbian Thor.’ And I loved that. It had a ring to it, so I took it and ran with it.”
Why not? Like Thor, the Team USA weightlifter’s superpowers include strength, mental toughness and control. She’s a larger athlete, competing in the 87 kg. weight class and recently gaining a 108 kg. snatch — in other words, throwing 238 pounds from the ground to over her head. And she’s a woman, attracted to other women.
Riotto’s TikTok, lesbian_thor, and YouTube channel — you guessed it, Lesbian Thor — show everything from her “acting goofy” and dancing with friends, to speaking out against hate speech. The “Lesbian Thor” and “Pride of the Tiger” t-shirts available via her website not only help with her training expenses but empower others to declare their authentic selves.
“I’ve had people reach out to me and say how open I am about my sexuality helps them with their own stories, or them coming out to people in their own lives,” she said. “At the end of the day, I’m just trying to help as many people as I can.”
Tuesday, Oct. 11 is National Coming Out Day. Riotto, originally of Fairfield, New Jersey, has been out for a while now, though her journey to empowerment hasn’t been easy. At age 20, she fell in love and entered her first serious relationship. After avoiding the topic for some time, she resolved to come out to her conservative parents.
“I was very close with my family; we went through a lot together,” Riotto said. “My mom was in a major car accident years ago and had something like 30 spinal procedures. Fairfield is in a flood zone, and we had been flooded out of our home for a while.”
But when she told her parents about her girlfriend, all civil conversation came to a halt, she recalled.
“They said, ‘You either break up with her or you pack your bags and leave this house tomorrow,’” Riotto remembered. “They wigged out. I said, ‘No, I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m just in love with another human being.’”
The next morning, Riotto left New Jersey for her training home in Reading, Pennsylvania, where she had lived part-time for three years.
“It was about an hour-and-a-half away from home, I had an apartment,” she said. “I had a stipend from USA Weightlifting, and my parents helped with the rest. I was basically a full-time athlete as a junior lifter.”
But after the explosive scene back home, her parents cut her off financially, taking away her car.
“Fortunately, I had just gotten home from the World Cup in China, where I won bronze in my big debut as a senior lifter,” Riotto said. “That bumped me up to the next stipend level and covered me until I found a job, working at the front desk of my gym, and a less expensive apartment. Timing is everything.”

Juliana Riotto competes at the 2022 North American Open Series 1 on March 6, 2022 in Columbus, Ohio.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Riotto moved to upstate New York to live with her girlfriend’s family. She found love and acceptance there, but the scars remain.
“We went through so much as a family,” she said. “The last thing I would have thought is that me being gay would be the reason I haven’t spoken to my family in a couple of years now.”
Eventually, Riotto and her girlfriend ended their relationship, and Riotto moved to Canandaigua, about 35 minutes outside of Rochester. There, she found a welcoming community, starting with folks she met at an LGBTQA+ friendly nightspot.
“Their slogan is, ‘All are welcome here,’” she said. “So, I started building a family around me. I have amazing people in my life, very good friends I know would do anything for me.”
Meanwhile, her weightlifting career gained steam. The bronze medal at the World Cup in China in February 2019 was swiftly followed by a silver at the British International Open. After qualifying as one of two alternates to the U.S. team at the 2021 IWF World Championships, she was added to the roster and ended up placing sixth of the 18 women in her weight class.
Most recently, Riotto had what she calls “the meet of her life” at the 2022 North American Open Series held in March in Columbus, Ohio.
“I went six for six,” she said.
The next goal on the horizon is the 2022 IWF World Championships in December in Bogota, Colombia. Riotto was named to the U.S. team last month.
While Riotto dreams of competing at the Olympics, the Olympic Games Paris 2024 are a question mark.
“There are 10 weight classes, and (the International Olympic Committee) cut it down to five,” she said. “So, the weight class I typically compete in is not currently in the Olympics. I would have to make the decision when things get closer to cut 10-15 pounds. I’m very comfortable in my weight class, and I do well, so it was a big conversation with my coach (including Aimee Everett) when they did that, how I would respond.”
Riotto still hasn’t made up her mind what to do, preferring to concentrate on this year’s competitions.
“If I can be a world champion by the time I’m 24 or 25, is that so bad? Then we will see what happens,” she said.
“I’ve learned not to stress out about things that I can’t control. I learned that from my parents. I can’t control them freaking out (about my sexuality). I can control getting a job, I can control competing for Team USA and giving it my best shot. Right now, that means staying on this world team and getting on the podium.”