Precious McKenzie

Precious McKenzie, a New Zealand professional weightlifter was not originally born in NZ. He was born in South Africa in 1936.

Named Precious because he survived a proclaimed incurable chest condition. His mother celebrated by baptising him the precious one.The exact year another disaster occurred to the McKenzie family. Precious's father was killed by a crocodile in the Limpopo River. Soon after the mother started to drink, having to give up her children to foster care. Precious and his sister were soon a part of a witch-like family. Precious was malnourished, causing him not to grow to his potential height and only to reach the height of 1.45m.

In his early teenage years, Precious decided he wanted to be in the circus as a gymnastic, though was later turned down because he had the wrong skin colour. Then chose to be a weightlifter.