Weightlifting: Marshall home from top role at Glasgow

BACK HOME: Commonwealth Games weightlifting jury president Garry Marshall pictured at home with wife Christine and his memento games mascot Clyde, named after Glasgow's Clyde River.

Turangi weightlifting guru Garry Marshall is back home without fuss or fanfare after officiating at his seventh Commonwealth Games event as president of the weightlifting jury - the ultimate authority for the competition.

The retired PE teacher who has coached some of this country's top weightlifters spent nearly 10 years teaching at Tongariro High School in the 1960s and 70s.

The 73-year-old, who retired to Turangi six years ago with wife Christine, is no stranger to international weightlifting events.

Over the past 32 years he has been officiating at Commonwealth Oceania and Olympic events in various roles as a team referee, coach and technical official.

He admits that the role at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, presiding over one of the two six-person juries for the weightlifting, is the most lofty position he has held to date. And not the easiest.

"We're not always crowd favourites and at times do get involved in controversy.

"At these games there were times when we were not at all popular because crowds see things but often don't know the rules."

And while being president of the jury does carry some prestige he said it does not offer the best seat in the house - "referees get that" - and can be a little isolated.

"The technical officials stay in hotels so you miss out on a lot that goes on in the games village and don't rub shoulders with managers and coaches from other teams."

He said the schedule during his 12 days at the games was busy and during the seven days of weightlifting competition, jury members were flat out.

The jury panel he presided over comprised weightlifting experts from New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, South Africa and India, ranging in age from mid-50s up to mid-70s.

Each of the six-person juries presided over two sessions a day. Marshall said most days morning meetings were crammed in before competition got underway at 10am.

New Zealand had eight men and four women competing and Marshall saw all the team members compete - either as a jury member or as a spectator.

The team finished with one gold, one silver and one bronze.

Marshall coached silver medallist 28-year-old Stas Chalaev in Auckland when he was a promising teenage competitor.