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Valerie Adams

Adams after her victory at the 2009 World Championships
Personal information
Nationality	New Zealand
Born	(1984-10-06) October 6, 1984 (age 40) Rotorua, New Zealand
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Sport
Country	New Zealand
Sport	Shot put
Coached by	Jean-Pierre Egger (2010–present)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  New Zealand Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Shot put World Championships 2007 Osaka Shot put 2009 Berlin Shot put 2011 Daegu Shot put 2005 Helsinki Shot put World Indoor Championships 2008 Valencia Shot put 2012 Istanbul Shot put 2010 Doha Shot put Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi Shot put 2006 Melbourne Shot put 2002 Manchester Shot put World Cup / Continental Cup 2006 Athens Shot put 2010 Split Shot put

Valerie Kasanita Adams (formerly known as Valerie Vili), ONZM (born 6 October 1984) is a shot putter from New Zealand. She is the reigning Olympic, world and Commonwealth champion. She also currently holds the New Zealand, Oceanian and Commonwealth records for the shot put with a personal best of 21.24 m.

Career

In 1998 Adams first met former javelin thrower Kirsten Hellier, who would become her coach for the next 11 years.

Adams first came to prominence when winning the World Youth Championships in 2001, with a throw of 16.87 m. She followed this up in 2002 by becoming World Junior champion, throwing 17.73 m, and had her first taste of senior success winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games with 17.45 m.

She finished fifth at the 2003 World Championships at eighteen years of age. At her first Olympics in 2004, Adams finished eighth, while still recovering from an appendectomy she had just weeks before the competition.

The following year, Adams earned a place in the international elite, winning a bronze medal at the World Championships with a personal best throw of 19.87 m, and going on to finish second at the World Athletics Final. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games the 1.96 m-tall athlete won the gold medal, breaking the 20-year-old Commonwealth Games record of 19.00 m with a throw of 19.66 m.

In 2007, Adams went to the Osaka World Championships as a favourite to take a medal due to her being one of only three women to throw over 20 m before the championships. In qualifying, Adams led the field with a throw of 19.45 m. Adams held second place behind Nadzeya Astapchuk throughout the final, but responded well in the last round with a mammoth throw and Commonwealth record of 20.54 m to take the gold. This made Adams one of few female athletes ever to take IAAF World Titles at youth, junior and senior level.

In 2008 Adams broke the Oceania record in winning her first World Indoor Title in Valencia (20.19 m). At the Beijing Olympics, she qualified for the final with the longest distance thrown, 19.73 meters, on her first attempt. She won the gold with a throw of 20.56 m, a personal best, beating Belarussian thrower Natallia Mikhnevich. It is the first Olympic gold medal in track and field for New Zealand since John Walker won the 1,500 meter race in 1976. She also won the New Zealand Sports Award of the year in 2008.

At the 2009 Grande Prêmio Rio in Brazil Adams won the competition with a new personal best and Oceanian area record of 20.69 m. The throw was also the world leading distance for the event. In August, Adams won at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin with a throw of 20.44 meters, ahead of the German Nadine Kleinert and Lijiao Gong of China.

At the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships she was defeated by Nadzeya Ostapchuk by a large margin, in spite of the New Zealander setting a continental record of 20.49 m. Adams announced on 28 March 2010 that she would no longer be coached by Kirsten Hellier after an 11 year partnership. In April 2010 she announced her new coach was Didier Poppe. She was consistently beaten by Nadzeya Astapchuk in the big meetings that season. She set a meeting record and season's best of 20.37 m at the Athletics Bridge meet in Slovakia, later saying that a change in her technique that April had begun to pay dividends. Later that season she won at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup with a season's best mark of 20.85 m and also competed at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, where she set a Games record mark of 20.47 m to retain her title. In late 2010 Jean-Pierre Egger took over as her coach from Poppe.

Her 2011 season started with a New Zealand all-comers record throw of 20.33 m in Wellington. At the World Athletic Championships in Korea in August 2011 she threw 21.24 m, winning the title and equalling the championship record set by Natalya Lisovskaya in 1987.

Personal life

Adams was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, to a Tongan mother (Lilika Ngauamo) and an English father (Sydney Adams). She was married to Bertrand Vili, a discus thrower from New Caledonia, but divorced him early in 2010. Valerie has several brothers over seven feet tall with the youngest one in the family being Steven Adams who is currently in America playing basketball at Notre Dame Prep in MA. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

References

• Valerie Adams at World Athletics

1. She was the third after Jana Pittman (2003) and Yelena Isinbayeva (2005). Veronica Campbell completed the set the day after Adams.
2. Biscayart, Eduardo (2009-05-18).Vili sets 20.69m Oceania Shot Put record in Rio. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-05-18.
3. Landells, Steve (2010-03-14). EVENT REPORT – WOMEN's Shot Put Final. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-03-01.
4. "Shotput champion Valerie Vili splits with coach". New Zealand Herald. 28 March 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
5. "Valerie Vili appoints new coach". stuff.co.nz. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
6. Juck, Alfons (2010-08-24). Shot putters rule in Dubnica. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-08-24.
7. "Tough year all worth it, says Adams". New Zealand Herald. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
8. Adams opens with 20.33m blast in Auckland, Willis and friends go the extra mile for earthquake relief in Wellington. Athletics New Zealand (2011-02-28). Retrieved on 2011-03-01.
9. Landells, Steve (29 August 2011). "Women's Shot Put - Final - Threepeat for Adams, with a 21.14m Area Record". IAAF. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
10. "Valerie Vili speaks out" (PDF, in English). New Idea. Hospice New Zealand. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
11. 12th IAAF Championships in Athletics, Berlin 2009 – Pressure free, Vili delivers second World Title Retrieved on 2009-08-17.
12. "Valerie Vili speaks out". New Idea. Hospice New Zealand. p. 1. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
13. Taylor, Murray (6 February 2007). "Strong winds suppress results in Hamilton". IAAF. Retrieved 2007-02-06.
14. Woodcock, Fred (11 August 2011). "Kiwi Steven Adams an NBA shoo-in". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
15. Rees, Peter. "Mum's the word for Valerie". Islands Business. Retrieved 6 March 2012.

External links

• Vili wins the shot put title at the 2007 World Championships at YouTube
• Page with Photo, one of several at Sporting Heroes

Template:Persondata

• 1984 births
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
• Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand
• Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand
• Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand
• Living people
• New Zealand Latter Day Saints
• Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit
• Olympic athletes of New Zealand
• Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand
• People from Rotorua
• New Zealand shot putters
• New Zealand people of Tongan descent
• Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
• Female shot putters
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games