Dame Valerie Adams

One of the all-time greats of New Zealand athletics, Dame Valerie Adams magnificently bestrode the shot circle like a colossus for more than two decades snaring ten global titles, four Olympic medals, three Commonwealth crowns and a staggering nine-year unbeaten streak spanning 107 competitions (from 2006-2015) during an incomparable career.

Born in Rotorua but raised in South Auckland, Dame Valerie grew up in a very poor household without the advantages enjoyed by many New Zealanders. Often living off one meal a day her height also made her a target for bullies, and she recalls school as being a tough experience.

“I never felt comfortable at school, it was just awful,” she says. “Whether it was the clothes I wore – because I have size 14 feet. I felt a lot of anxiety and nerves.”

However, while her height made her a target for bullies, she found comfort on the sports field thanks to her natural strength and athletic build.  Dame Valerie played basketball, netball and rugby in her youth but the direction of her life changed forever after first trying shot put in a house sports competition at the age of 14.

A naturally gifted thrower, she enjoyed a meteoric rise and within just six months of taking up the sport she was selected to compete for New Zealand at the World U18 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland – where she finished tenth.

“I had the support of some wonderful PE teachers who saw something in me,” she recalls. “Athletics is a lonely sport, but and I liked the fact that I was challenged individually. What also drew me to athletics was I had to take full responsibility for my performances.”

While taking her early, tentative steps into shot put in September 2000 her world was blown apart following the death of her Tongan mother, Lilika, at the age of 39.

The previous day Dame Valerie had watched the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games with her mum – where she had vowed to Lilika to do her very best fulfil her talents and one day compete at an Olympic Games.

“On September 16 (the day of the Sydney opening ceremony) I did not know that the very next day of my life would change me forever,” recalls Dame Valerie. “I took a massive hit in my personal life (with the death of her mum). But I’m so glad I had found athletics because it gave me a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging – something that would give me a reason to tap into something better than the status quo of being stuck in that cycle of living in poverty.”

It was Dame Valerie’s good fortune that very early in her career development she met Kirsten Hellier, who guided her successfully through the first decade or so of her career. The former Commonwealth Games javelin silver medallist offered structure and purpose to her training but became much more than a coach to the young, gifted thrower.

“I really saw Kirsten as a mother figure,” explains Dame Valerie. “When I needed a place or somewhere to stay because after my mum died my stepfather kicked me out of the house, I then became part of the family (at Kirsten’s), which was awesome. I had a great relationship with her kids. It was over 11 years we were together. A lot of growing happened within that time, which was great. I am grateful for that time she gave me.”

Two years on from her debut as a nervous, shy 14-year-old, the proud New Zealander returned to the 2001 World U18 Championships in Debrecen, Hungary a different athlete. Taking strength and motivation from her vow to her mum she crushed the opposition in Debrecen to win the competition by more than a metre-and-a-half.

“You could see that was the competition where I developed the ‘don’t mess with me look’,” reflects Dame Valerie. “I wanted success so much nothing was going to stop me. I grew up with a lot of hardship, so my determination came from wanting to break the cycle and to strive for a better life.”

More progress was made in 2002 as she added the World U20 title in Kingston, Jamaica – taking gold by almost a metre – and one week later, and still aged just 17, she secured a Commonwealth Games silver medal in Manchester. A memorable year was climaxed by a huge new PB of 18.40m to finish sixth in the World Cup in Madrid.

Her upwardly mobile progress was maintained in 2003 as she finished fifth on her World Championship debut in Paris and the following year she made her Olympic debut at the Athens Games – in which the shot put would take place in Olympia, site of the Ancient Olympic Games.

“I got better and better and better,” she says of this period of her career. “I became more mature, more committed to training and everything started to ramp up. I also count my blessings that I got to enjoy a World Juniors first, then a Comm Games and World Champs before experiencing an Olympic Games because I got the time to gradually develop and gain experience.”

Despite suffering a bout of appendicitis just five weeks before the Athens Olympics she performed solidly to on the day place ninth (although subsequently because of a series of doping infringements this has been upgraded to fifth). It was an unforgettable experience for then 19-year-old athlete, who has many cherished memories of the Games. “It was amazing. To have the opportunity to go away on an Olympic Solidarity grant and to be named on the team and to be given the chance to compete against throwers I’d only previously seen on TV was surreal. To have made my Olympic debut competing in Olympia was phenomenal.”

Married to first husband Bertrand Vili at the end of 2004 she capped her year in December by cracking 19m for the first time at Mt Smart Stadium and the next year 19m plus became the norm as she set three national records including a 19.87m Oceania record in qualification at the World Championships in Helsinki, where she went on to win a silver medal – just 2cm behind the gold medallist Olga Ryabinkina of Russia.

In 2006, Dame Valerie made the next step in her throwing progression by smashing through the 20m barrier for the first time – setting an Oceania record of 20.20m to secure the New Zealand title in Christchurch and two months later claimed her first senior international championship gold by winning Commonwealth title in Melbourne with a best of 19.66m.

“It was amazing and as a New Zealander it (the Melbourne Commonwealth Games) felt like a home Games,” she recalls. “I had the most amazing time, the team did well and the stadium (MCG) was full of Kiwis.”

Later that year she matched her Oceania record of 20.20m in Bad Kostritz in Germany and climaxed another memorable year with victory in the World Cup in Athens with a best of 19.87m.

Yet if 2006 provided many great memories, Dame Valerie truly arrived as a world-class star the following year. Despite boasting an unbeaten record throughout 2007 leading into the World Championships in Osaka, Japan she endued what she describes as an “awful build up.” Her marriage was falling apart and then in her final pre-World Championship meet in Cairns she damaged a ligament on the ring finger of her throwing hand.

Advised by her coach to withdraw from Osaka she stubbornly went ahead and opted to compete. Shoving her hand in an ice container between every throw, the Aucklander produced the four best throws of the comp, capped by an outstanding Oceania record of 20.54m in the sixth round to secure gold.

“It was a wonderful moment of elation (to win the world title for the first time) and proved to me the importance of not giving up. Osaka taught me to trust in myself and my gut instinct (which was to compete). If I hadn’t competed, I would never have known if I could have won.”

She went into 2008 the clear favourite to secure the Olympic title in Beijing and cemented that status by claiming gold at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia. Now a full-time athlete her training went up a notch and despite seeing some huge throws by her Belarussian rivals in the countdown to the Games, the Kiwi handled the pressure magnificently to strike Olympic gold by more than a metre with an Oceania record of 20.56m.

“It was very empowering to perform in front of 80,000 people in the Bird’s Nest Stadium,” she explains. “It was surreal. Everything ran to schedule, training was immaculate, slick, fast everything ran like clockwork. It was a dream competition. I dominated, I felt so powerful – on top of the world.”

Unbeaten since the World Athletics Final in 2006, Dame Valerie continued to boss the shot put in 2009 retaining her world title with victory in Berlin and concluded her year with a first ever 21m throw – a monster 21.07m effort to win the World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki.

Yet following a marriage separation and splitting from long-time coach Kirsten Hellier in 2010 she struggled to find focus for much of that year. Consistently finishing second to her Belarus rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk (she finished second behind Ostapchuk at the World Indoor Championships in Doha but was later upgraded to gold following a positive doping test with the Belarussian) she managed to end the season by retaining her Commonwealth title in New Delhi.

But realising change was needed she sought out a new coach, Jean-Pierre Egger – a man who played a huge role in reigniting her career.

“He’s such a kind, humble man who looks at you first as a person,” she explains of the Swiss coach. “He is a man with no ego but such amazing charisma.”

Shedding 30kg, Dame Valerie arrived in Switzerland for training in great shape and in 2011 she enjoyed what was, arguably, the most impressive year in her career. Once again unbeaten for the year her highlight came at the World Championships in Daegu when she threw a massive Oceania record of 21.24m to secure a hat-trick of world titles.

“It was a very dreamy competition and I think I went there knowing I was going to win,” she says. “I was more confident than in the past. I’d taken on this new journey adopting Switzerland as my home and living in the training centre. It was a lonely existence being there without my family but it was one I needed to take to get the best out of my career.”

In 2012 she landed the World Indoor crown in Istanbul but if winning the Olympic title in Beijing had ran like clockwork her road to retaining the crown in London could not have been any different.

In the shape of her life and having throw 21m plus efforts in Rome and Luzern in the countdown to London she then damaged her back two weeks out from the London Olympics. Thanks to the support of her long-time physio, Lou Johnson, the back issues eased but then the day before she was due to enter the Olympic Stadium for qualification it was revealed an administrative error had left Dame Valerie off the start lists.

In a frantic effort to rectify the error her inclusion was only confirmed at 10.30pm the night before competition – but in terms of preparation, it could have not gone much worse for the Kiwi.

“I had two hours of sleep and lost 3kg in weight in one night,” she admits of the intense anxiety she felt. “I went on to throw 20.40m in qualification, which was the biggest qualification throw I’d ever done but you could see the struggle in my eyes. My face is so pale, I was trying as much as I could but every five minutes, I was on the verge of tears.”

In the final a mentally ravaged Valerie threw a best of 20.70m but on the day had to settle for silver behind Ostapchuk – an experience she describes as “heart-breaking.”

Post event she faced the intense scrutiny of the national media, a press conference was organised just to tackle the administrative error – the fallout became a circus. She took a couple of days rest in Euro Disney in Paris and returned to her training base in Switzerland only to receive a call from Dave Currie, the New Zealand Chef de Mission for the London Olympics.

“At that time I was not in a good state,” she says. I was still trying to process everything at the London Olympics alone when he (Currie) tells me Ostapchuk had been done for drugs,” she says. “I then start hyperventilating in the middle of the street thinking, ‘oh my gosh, I’m Olympic champion’.”

Overnight she became a national hero and was presented her medal at The Cloud in Auckland in front of her family and friends.

In 2013 she created history by becoming the first woman to claim four successive world titles with a best of 20.88m in Moscow and the following year claimed a fourth straight World Indoor crown in Sopot and also secured a hat-trick of Commonwealth titles with victory in Glasgow. In 2014 she also earned the honour of World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year.

However, the demands of staying on top for the best part of a decade started to take a toll on her body and in late 2014 she underwent both shoulder and elbow surgery. While she describes the shoulder surgery as routine the elbow injury proved very serious for her athletics future.

The tendon injury was impinging on the nerve and for many months following she could barely pick up a pen. It was a long, tough road back and on her return to competition at the Paris Diamond League in 2015 she placed fifth to finally end her remarkable streak of 107 straight victories stretching back nine years. Making the tough decision to withdraw from the New Zealand team for the Beijing World Championships and to relinquish her eight-year hold on the title was not easy but a sensible decision by the Kiwi throwing titan.

“I never wanted to just be a number, so we decided to respect the injury and give the elbow longer to recover,” she says.

In 2016 she gradually returned to form, winning a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in Portland and popped out several 20m plus throws in the countdown to the Rio Olympics. Testament to her ferocious competitive spirit, Dame Valerie produced her best competition for two years in Rio, throwing 20.42m only for a monster final round effort by American Michelle Carter to relegate the Kiwi to silver.

“Although the threepeat would have been incredible, I felt like a winner because I’d won my own battle,” explains Dame Valerie.

In 2017 she was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours and later that year celebrated the birth of her first child, daughter, Kimoana.

Yet motherhood was not impinging on her athletic ambitions and just six months after giving birth she was back winning international medals with a shot silver at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

In March 2019 she gave birth to a son, Kepaleli Tava , but still held hopes of competing at her fifth Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

The Covid-induced postponement of the Games by 12 months threw “a spanner in the works” for Valerie who opted to work with Christchurch-based throws coach Dale Stevenson in the countdown to the rescheduled Games.

Based in Auckland it was a huge sacrifice for the mum-of-two but would one which would prove the right decision.

“I moved down to Christchurch in October 2020 for eight months determined to give it my best shot,” she explains. “It was a very trying time for the family, especially after my son had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes but I got what I needed from going down to Christchurch from a performance point of view.”

At the Sir Graeme Douglas International in February, she popped out a 19.65m throw – her longest for five years – to give the Kiwi a huge confidence boost. And then in Tokyo climaxed her long and illustrious Olympic career with a bronze medal and a best of 19.62m – an achievement she puts on a par with her Olympic gold in Beijing as one of the two finest moments in her career.

“It was so special because of the journey I’d taken to get there as a mum-of-two,” she adds. “I was the oldest competitor in that competition and knowing the struggles I’d gone through to be at those Games meant so much. It shows that if you put your mind to something, then anything is possible.”

Dame Valerie finally called time on her remarkable 22-year-old international career in March 2022.

Today she remains at the heart of athletics as a coach to her sister, Lisa Adams, the current World and Paralympic F37 shot put champion and World Record Holder. She also serves as Chair of the Oceania Athlete Commission and a Board member at High Performance Sport New Zealand. 

So reflecting on her journey from Mangere in South Auckland to numerous podiums in major international competition, what does she believe her legacy is?

“It is probably that determination of breaking the mould, breaking the bias and proving you can be great no matter where you come from,” she says.