Rory Barrett

It’s ironic, given his distinguished weightlifting and academic career, that Rory Barrett is listed in most sports publications as John Barrett. John is his official, but unused first name. To anyone who knows him, he’s Rory.

He has an unusual story. He was born in Mumbai, India, on the last day of December, 1945, but grew up in Auckland.

Weightlifting attracted him early and Barrett ended up compiling an amazing record in the sport. At national level his longevity was extraordinary. He won his first New Zealand title in 1972, in the 110kg division. Before he was done, he had won 11 at that weight, the last in 1990, when he was 44! In addition, he won three titles at 100kg from 1979-81 and one at 110+kg, in 1977 – 15 titles in all.

Barrett competed in two Commonwealth Games and one Olympics.

At Christchurch in 1974, he lifted in the heavyweight division, alongside friend and long-time rival John Bolton, who was also from Auckland. There were eight competitors.

The division was totally dominated by Canadian Russell Prior, who not only won the gold medal, but set Commonwealth Games records for the snatch, the jerk and the total.

Barrett began with a snatch of 140kg, which left him fourth at the halfway point, behind Prior (155kg), Nigel Martin of Australia (147.5kg) and Bolton (145kg).

In the jerk, Prior’s 197.5kg left no room for argument. Bolton succeeded with 195kg, and Barrett comfortably lifted 180kg. Martin fell out of contention when the best he could manage was 170kg.

On his final lift, Barrett did everything he could do elevate himself into the silver medal position, attempting 202.5kg. It was a courageous attempt and for a while it seemed he might make it, but he finally narrowly failed.

So the final totals were Prior 352.5kg, Bolton 340kg, Barrett 320kg and Martin 317.5kg.

Barrett attended the world championships in Moscow in 1975 and finished 9th with a total of 347.5kg.

At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Barrett lifted in the heavyweight division and recorded best lifts of 150kg in the snatch and 192.5kg in the jerk, for a total of 342.5kg. This placed him 15th of 22 competitors. The winner was Yury Zaytsev of the Soviet Union with 385kg.

Barrett returned to the Commonwealth Games stage at Edmonton in 1978 and just missed out on a second medal. In the heavyweight division, he snatched 150kg and jerked 182.5kg for a total of 332.5kg, which left him in fourth position. Prior won with 347.5kg and the bronze medallist, just 2.5kg ahead of Barrett, was England’s Andy Drzewiecki.

Though Barrett continued competitive weightlifting at national championship level for many more years, he was already on his way to a remarkable academic career. After completing his studies at Auckland University in 1972, he began teaching, with mathematics his specialist area.

He was at Lynfield College from 1974-80, then became Head of Mathematics at Rutherford High School from 1980-86, then Head of Mathematics at Auckland Grammar from 1986-92. Next he was Deputy Headmaster at Saint Kentigern College from 1992-2002. In 2004, he embarked on a prolonged stint as Head of the Mathematics Department at Macleans College.

While filling these senior roles, Barrett has been a prolific author, writing specialist books on mathematics and embarking many other writing projects as well.