Precious McKenzie
Weightlifting
Precious was born in 1936 in Durban (South Africa), the second youngest in a family of five. His father was killed hunting crocodiles shortly after he was born. Precious was a weak child, suffering many serious illnesses during his childhood. His mother was unable to cope and Precious and his younger sister were put in welfare ‘care’. He wanted to become a circus acrobat, and while training for his act, he developed a love of weightlifting.
He progressed rapidly and became recognised as the best lifter in his weight class in the Republic. But, due to apartheid, he could not represent South Africa, so he shifted to England.
He won 4 consecutive Gold Medals at the Commonwealth Games for weightlifting, later emigrating to NZ. Since then he has been working as an international freelance consultant on back care injury prevention, spreading his pain-saving message to both employees and management of companies concerned with workplace safety. He has conducted seminars in countries all over the world.
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