Mene Mene

Mene Mene, born in Apia, Samoa, in 1946, travelled a rather circuitous route but eventually became one of the most popular athletes in New Zealand.

Mene attended Samoa College, where he shone as a rugby player, representing the first XV as a fullback and, for one season, as a forward.

On leaving college, he enrolled at Samoa Technical Institute to learn a trade, deciding to focus on aircraft engineering. After three years of study, he was advised by Polynesian Airlines that he could take a scholarship for aviation training with NAC in Christchurch. The Aviation College in Christchurch (now the International Aviation Academy of New Zealand) was a good fit for Mene because at the time NAC was partnered with Polynesian Airlines.

Mene arrived in Christchurch in 1966. He recalled he found the city cold, he knew few people and he was rather lonely. So he joined the Christchurch Technical Athletics Club, where he came under the eye of master coach Valdy Briedis.

Briedis, who had great athletes like Val Young and Marise Chamberlain in his stable, took a look at the strong Samoan and asked him to run a few laps. “I had no gear,” Mene said. “I had a rugby shirt and my rugby shorts and no shoes. I ran around the park in bare feet and the wet grass made me cold. After a few minutes Valdy called me over for a chat, then sent me home. I managed to get some running shoes for the next training session.”

The club was in many ways the making of Mene. He arrived at the club feeling he could be a good sprinter, but under Briedis, that soon changed. He became a fine all-around athlete, who eventually won six successive New Zealand decathlon titles, from 1972-77, and represented New Zealand at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games.

He also made many friends there and met his future wife, an outstanding young javelin thrower named Sally Flynn. The couple married late in 1970.

Mene was hoping to join Sally in representing New Zealand at the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, but he was overlooked by the selectors, who picked two decathletes, Roy Williams and Roger Main, when they could have taken three. “I was five points short of qualifying and was hoping they’d pick me anyway, but I missed out. So then I looked ahead to the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, determined to be selected for that.”

Mene was New Zealand’s pre-eminent decathlete by 1974 and acquitted himself well in Christchurch, finishing 6th in the 13-strong field, with a total of 6993 points.

“There weren’t many points between 2nd and 6th and it came down to the last event – the 1500m, which is not one for us Polynesians! But it was good, I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Mene was very strong in the 100m, the long jump, and the shot put, was reasonable in the high jump and struggled in the 400m so that after the first day he was in 6th place but within a whisker of 3rd.

On the second day he was reasonable in the 110m hurdles, good in the discus, struggled in the pole vault, bounced back well in the javelin but lost a lot of ground in the final event, the 1500m.

Throughout the two days of competition, the ever-smiling Mene endeared himself to the crowd and he became strong attraction whenever he competed. He said he loved every minute of the Games.

The Menes were even invited to the Royal Yacht Britannia for a luncheon hosted by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. “We were a married couple competing, which was quite unusual, and that’s the reason we were invited,” said Sally.

Men said that competing in his home town, wearing the silver fern and the black singlet was “just amazing”. “Missing out in 1970 really fuelled my ambitions and being chosen in 1974 was a dream come true.”

After his competitive days were over, Mene turned to coaching – he was national decathlon coach for 18 years and became a lecturer in the Oceania region for the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

He was also an identity at Christchurch Airport. He worked for Air New Zealand from 1967-2014 – 47 years.

In 2010 Mene was inducted into the Samoan Sports Hall of Fame. He said it was the pinnacle of his career. “It was the biggest thrill of my life. I’ve competed at the Commonwealth Games, been to two others (1990 and 1994) and the Olympics (1992 and 1996) as an official. I was also coach of the New Zealand team to the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart. But being chosen for the Hall of Fame was an honour I never expected. I could not have been more proud.”

Both Mene and Sally became very involved with the Rawhiti Golf Club. Mene became President of the Club for more than 10 years and Sally became the Ladies Club Captain.

Sally and Mene took a great deal of pleasure in watching their three children forge their own sports careers. Their daughter, Bernice, played 78 games of netball for New Zealand, captained the national team for two years and as a goal defence was one of the greatest players ever to represent New Zealand. Bernice is married to New Zealand test cricket star Dion Nash.

One of Sally and Mene’s sons, Chris, represented Samoa in the discus in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The other son, Nathan, represented Samoa in the high jump at the 1998 Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games and played for the New Zealand under-20 basketball team.