Local Focus: Gisborne gym hosts Games athlete

A one-day Olympic weightlifting workshop was held at Metcon Mauri gym on Sunday, with Auckland-based Olympic weightlifters Megan Signal and Stacey Lee Siataga.

The five-hour workshop covered both Olympic-class lifts - the clean-and-jerk and snatch.

Signal is passionate about sharing her knowledge of the sport but also her experiences as a high-performance athlete.

She said teaching complimented her own training.

"If you can bring people along the journey with you, you can teach them, you can see them get better," she said.

Metcon Mauri gym owner Diane Akurangi said the workshop was amazing and the gym was hoping to host more.

"Everyone who participated is feeling more confident and took away little gems that will assist their lifting," Akurangi said.

Gym members Jasmine Stevens said she was glad she attended.

"There's a lot I've taken away with me, especially confidence getting under the bar," Stevens said.

Jeremy Ferris enjoyed learning the basic components of the lifts.

"Been doing rugby all my life, so it was good to come in here and do some lifting and earn proper technique," he said.

Signal started weightlifting in 2013 after finding the sport through CrossFit.

She holds seven New Zealand records and two Oceania records in the 71kg class.

She qualified for both the Tokyo Olympics and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games but was unable to compete due to injury.

She sees both good and bad experiences as opportunities to learn and grow.

"Not every day is easy, but you show up anyway because the people you get to train with are incredible," she said.

"I guess the injuries are pretty rough, but even then, through the injuries, you learn so much".

Megan leaves for Sweden in four weeks' time for a training camp with the rest of the New Zealand team.

The team will spend two weeks in Sweden before heading to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games.