Golden double for Gisborne man at world armwrestling champs

Gold medals hang from the bulging biceps of John Leach after winning his masters weight division for the right and left arms at the world armwrestling champs in Kuala Lumpur. Picture by Liam Clayton

A Gisborne man has gone from down and out to the top of the world in the sport of armwrestling.

John Leach, 42,  won two gold medals at the Fourth International Federation of Armwrestling World Championships in Kuala Lumpur.

A forestry technician at Muriwai company Rātā Forest Management, Leach won the masters 105-kilograms-plus titles in both the right and left-arm categories.

He dominated with “straight pulls” all the way to the finals — facing Jaco Botma in the left-arm gold medal decider and fellow South African Jaco Underhay in the right-arm final.

It was a long and tumultous journey to the worlds for Leach — who co-founded the Lock N Drop Club with wife Darlene Hohipa only to hit a rough patch in his life, resulting in the demise of the club.

He now flies his own banner after a plan made nearly 10 years ago was reignited with vital help from good friend and training partner Anton “West” van der Westhuizen.

The pair met at an armwrestling championship in Auckland in 2014 and have been friends since.

Leach said it was West who got the fire burning in him again in November of last year.

“He’s been an inspiration to me since I started arm wrestling. He gave me that push, that nudge to get back in there and drive for it again.”

The catalyst to competing at the worlds was an event in Auckland in April at which competitors from as far away as Uzbekistan competed.

Leach realised he could foot it with the best and decided he was going to compete at the worlds.

Thorn-in-his-side mate ‘couldn’t be more proud of him’

West said. “I don’t know if you’ve seen his forearms. He just became a freak.

“It took a lot of effort to get to where he is from where he was. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”

Other than close friends and family, and New Zealand’s wider armwrestling community, no else knew of his world championship intentions.

“It was a big build-up to it — four to five months of training,” Leach said. “I changed my routine to include a full-body workout. I did no actual armwrestling training for two months. I set my foundation by just working on my body.

“It was only in the last month-and-a-half that I started my armwrestling training, targeting triceps, biceps and hand movement.

He trained at the gym and at home and did  “table time on Fridays” with armwrestling buddies.

Local club the Relentless Brothers also helped in his preparation.

As did West, who said he was “like a thorn in his side trying to get him back into the gym”.

“You can see the potential in the bloke,” West said. “It was about getting back into it after being away from it for so long.

“It’s hard when you lose your mojo.

“To keep him motivated, if he would do an amount of exercises, I would do the same. It then became where I started pushing him.”

Leach knew little about his competition at the worlds.

He was simply proud to be representing his country and wasn’t fixated on success.

“I didn’t think I was going to win one at all,” Leach said. “My nerves were out the gate before my first match but after, I thought ‘yeah, I’m in there’.”

Leach also competed in the senior class “where all the young guns are”.

He placed fifth in the left-arm section of his weight group and seventh for right-arm.

“At the worlds, you can’t make little mistakes . . . I made a couple of mistakes and it cost me.”

Leach said he would never have been able to have this opportunity without the help of his sponsors Rātā Forest Management, “the TNAK Family” and his younger brother Mahanga Katipa.

Leach is looking to his next competition — the New Zealand championships in Hamilton on October 28.

And he has already set his sights on defending his world titles in Greece next year.

He is keen to talk with any prospective sponsors.