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Obituary Les Mills
Athletics legend Les Mills CNZM MBE has died aged 91.
A past Athletics Auckland Board Member.
A four-time Olympian, five-time Commonwealth medallist and 25-time national champion, Les enjoyed a lengthy career at the top, which spanned three decades and two distinct generations of New Zealand athletics.
Self-coached for much of his career, and with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, Les embraced innovative training techniques throughout his career and such was his all-round athletic ability he also represented his country at the sport of weightlifting.
Naturally fast, he began his athletics journey as a talented sprinter and hurdler but as his body developed he later took up the shot and discus around the age of 14.
He won his first national senior shot put and discus titles in 1955, with his last titles coming in 1972.
He won six Commonwealth Games medals; silver discus throw 1958 in Cardiff, gold discus throw 1966 and silver shot put 1966 in Kingston, silver discus throw 1970 and bronze shot put 1970 in Edinburgh.
He was captain and flag bearer at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, finishing 11th in the shot put and 28th in the discus throw. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics he was seventh in the shot put. In the 1968 Mexico Olympics he was 11 th in the shot put and at the 1972 Munich Olympics he was the flagbearer for the New Zealand Team and finished 14th in the discus throw and 23rd in the shot put.
He set up his first Les Mills gym in 1968, the fitness empire for nearly 60 years has become a byword for health and fitness in New Zealand. He also later moved successfully into politics and served as Auckland Major for eight years from 1990 to 1998.
Les also remained connected with sport. He was national sports director in Papua New Guinea for a spell and from 1977 to 1979 was Director of Coaching at Athletics NZ.
He later enjoyed a successful period as a coach, memorably guiding Beatrice Faumuina to the world discus title in 1997, the 1998 Commonwealth crown and New Zealand discus record.
He also coached the current New Zealand men’s discus record-holder Ian Winchester and Jordan Vandermade to decathlon bronze at the 2006 World U20 Championships.
He was the Village Mayor at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, chef de mission of the 1998 New Zealand Commonwealth Games team in Kuala Lumpur and the 2000 Olympic Games team in Sydney.
He was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
In the 1973 Queen’s Birthday honours he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to sport and in the 2002 Queen’s Birthday and Golden Jubilee honours he was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to local government and sport.
In 2022 Les and his son Phillip and daughter-in-law Jackie Mills were jointly inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.
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