Precious Mckenzie Deadlifting

Precious McKenzie, a great lifting champion who had a very hard start in life.

Precious came from South Africa where the Apartheid regime segregated blacks and often treated them very harshly - Precious had a rough childhood and suffered lots of illnesses which almost killed him, and which stopped his growth for sometime, as a result he stood only 4 feet 9 inches tall at maturity.

The old saying "good things come in small packages" could have been written about Precious he accomplished so much. Due to Apartheid Precious was banned from the 1958 Commonwealth games and the 1960 Olympic games even though he was the best lifter in South Africa. In 1964 he emigrated to England and became a british citizen in 1966 then he could lift for England and Great Britain. And did he lift!! Just look at his list of victories!

Commonwealth games weightlifting gold for England 1966-1970-1974 and for New Zealand 1978 at age 42.

Olympic games competitor 1968-1972-1976

British weightlifting champ 9 times, British powerlifting champ 10 times, World powerlifting champ 5 times

Multiple world PLift records and later in life up to 2002 8 World masters records

Precious became a back health specialist in New Zealand and has travelled the world lecturing and teaching.

Precious was awarded the MBE for services to his sport (think it was in 1976).

Not bad for a little sickly kid who grew up in a country where he was told he had no prospects eh? Precious was once described as "A very big man inside a very small body" - I cannot think of a better description for him!

Magnus

i first met precious in 1969 when him and lois martin gave an exhibition of olympic lifting at the mr health and fitness physique contest,run by dave webster.[i won the jnr]this was held in the palace of arts,glasgow.the next day i travelled to Aberdeen to compete in the mr scotland,again run by dave,[i won again precious and lois gave an exhibition,also dave prows also was there.precious and i met a few times after that at world power champs. a great guy.extreemly modest,and very helpful.

Nice one Ray,

you certainly got around a bit! Your experiences with the above guys brought to mind so many other great guys from all sides of the iron game -
just a few I recall are John Neighbour, Gary Langford, Newton Burrowes, Roy Duval, Wesley Imundi, Eddie McDonough, Walter O'Malley, Andrew Searle,Terry Phillips, Bill Hemsworth, Peter Simpson, Peter Fiore, John Wood, Gordon Pasquil and many more, some of these guys I saw in the flesh but I bet you have personally known or seen many more than me. Sad to think many of todays young guys will not have heard of these guys.

Magnus

yes its a pity that the young guys have never heard of the legends you mentioned.peter fiore was/is a good friend of mine.he and bill west coached me in my world championships against larry pacifico,i went 9 for 9,and broke 2 european records due to their coaching. Bill hemsworth planned my diet for my wabba mr europe win.wessley immundi i competed against in 1973 when he and harold dickinson came to coatbridge,scotland, to compete in the mr lanarkshire contest.ed mcdonough guest posed.john neibour i met at the british teams squad training sessions.all these guys were down to earth people,despite their fantastic achievments.