Melling home with golden intentions

24 July 2002

Two Games, one wedding, and a degree course. Wrestler, John Melling still finds time to go for gold in Manchester.

England wrestler John Melling has returned home after a 12-year training programme in Germany and Canada.

And he aims to make it many happy returns by collecting a gold medal at the Manchester Commonwealth Games – one better than the silver medal he picked up in Victoria in 1994.

Back in 1990, Melling, from Wigan in Greater Manchester, moved abroad in order to train alongside some of the World’s top performers.

The 31-year-old, who competes at 66kg, is also busy studying for a psychology degree at Vancouver University in Canada. and hopes he can go one better than the silver medal he won at the Victoria Games in 1994.

Melling said: “If I had stayed in Britain I would not have got any better. When I went to Vancouver I had some of the best training I could get.

“Anything less than a gold medal would be a disappointment for me, especially as the Games is in Manchester which is so close to where I was brought up.

“I’ve got a busy few months ahead of me. My brother gets married a week after the Games, the World Championships will be held in Iran in September and then I graduate in December.

If Melling is successful at the Commonwealth Games, his sights will inevitably turn towards Athens 2004.

“And I would love to go to the Athens Olympics because I’ve never competed in an Olympic Games. I just missed out on qualifying last time.”

Info News Service/np