Weightlifting referee one of five in country
Fifteen years ago Barbara Grieve took an interest in her son’s weightlifting and now she is an international referee for the sport.
Her son, James Grieve, was weightlifting to improve his core strength for playing rugby. He lifted competitively as a teenager.
‘‘I used to take a carload [of lifters] to Dunedin for competitions,’’ Barbara Grieve, of Invercargill, said.
Monthly trips were made until Grieve and a few others founded the Southland Olympic Weightlifting Club in Invercargill 13 years ago. She was chairperson for three years.
Grieve holds a category one referee’s ranking which is the highest qualification worldwide. There are five in New Zealand with the ranking and Grieve is the only one in the South Island.
She has officiated at many overseas competitions, with the next in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Employed as an Invercargill City Council environment health administrator, Grieve will be the only New Zealand referee at the International Weightlifting Federation Junior World Championships at Tashkent on July 7-14.
Two Kiwi lifters, both from Auckland, will be competing.
Grieve has also refereed at senior (2017, California) and youth (2016, Penang) world championships. She is in her third year refereeing at the top level. At the championships, a group of five referees, called a jury, watched referees and lifters to make sure the right decisions were made. Grieve was on a jury at the senior world championships. ‘‘They [jury] can overturn a decision,’’ she said. Grieve, who referees throughout New Zealand, has officiated once in Papua New Guineas, twice in Malaysia and three times in Australia. ‘‘Every time you go to these events, you always learn something.
‘‘I love going away but I love coming back to Invercargill.’’
Having arthritis in both hands, since her early 20s, has prevented Grieve from trying weightlifting.