Olympics: Drug policing and Games size on agenda

Barry Maister, a member of New Zealand's 1976 gold-medal winning Olympic hockey team, has been appointed secretary-general of the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

Maister replaces Michael Hooper, who left the committee this month after nine years to become chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation in London.

Maister will take up his position in early March after six years as rector of St Andrews College in Christchurch.

His entire working life has been in teaching. He spent 15 years at Christchurch Boys' High, rising to become deputy principal before leaving to become principal of Riccarton High School for eight years and then moving on to St Andrews.

He has also had a lifetime involvement in drug education and was a trustee of the Life Education Trust.

Winning the gold medal at Montreal in 1976 was the highlight of an outstanding hockey career for Maister, who has had a long involvement with the Olympic Games.

He was in New Zealand teams who competed at Mexico City in 1968, Munich in 1972 and Montreal.

He was also chosen to compete in Moscow in 1980 but the eventual boycott of those Games denied him the opportunity to play at four Olympics.

Maister has coached hockey teams to New Zealand junior level and is a member of the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. He was inducted with the 1976 Olympic team in 1990.

"I see this [his new role] as an opportunity to continue a lifetime's involvement in sport and combine it with a chance to work for the Olympic movement," he said.

"I was looking for a new challenge and I feel this position will allow me to use my sports background with the leadership skills I have developed in almost 30 years of teaching."

New Zealand Olympic Committee president John Davies said he was delighted with the appointment of Maister.

"Barry is a three-time Olympian and naturally understands Olympic sport.

"But he also has outstanding credentials as an educator, which is important because education is a major purpose of the Olympic movement."

- NZPA

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