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Hero image for 1974 Commonwealth Games - Graham May's Face-plant

1974 Commonwealth Games - Graham May's Face-plant

Television (Excerpts) – 1974

Weightlifting had long been a foreign sport to the majority of New Zealanders. The Commonwealth Games changed all that. The Games in New Zealand gave the sport unprecedented exposure and New Zealanders loved it ... Some [of the crowd] almost became too closely involved when Graham May, the 21-year-old super-heavyweight New Zealander, on his way to his gold medal, passed out with sheer effort and 187.5kg of weights went lumbering off the front of the stage, towards the first row of seats and scattering mere mortals from its path.
– Ron Palenski and Terry Maddaford, The Games: The Pride and drama of New Zealanders at Olympic and Commonwealth Games, Moa Publications, Auckland 1983
And luckily the only thing damaged was the stage. And the people in the front row had to scatter as the weight rolled perilously close to them.
– Bill McCarthy, presenting The Games highlights show