Valerie Adams in World Cup action for Oceania (© Getty Images)
New Zealand’s World junior shot put champion Valerie Adams had a marvellous 2002 season, not only claiming the World title but successfully vying with the seniors to take a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, as well as representing Oceania in the IAAF World Cup, where she threw an astonishingly huge national senior and area junior record of 18.40m.
Valerie Adams was born in Rotorua, New Zealand (6-Oct-1984), but grew up in Mangere, Auckland, an area with a large Polynesian community. Her height comes from her father who originated from England, and her strength, she says comes from her mother who was from Tonga. Her elder sister is a pretty fair basketball player and some other members of her extended family have played professional basketball.
Adams was introduced to athletics at the age of 14, and this only because her school considered that being the tallest, she would be the best at the throwing events. However, she also played other sports at school which she enjoyed, especially basketball, volleyball and women’s rugby.
In fact she had little enthusiasm for athletics at first, but then after quickly beginning to win events was introduced to her coach Kirsten Hellier, and the rest as they say is history.
In the beginning, things were fairly difficult as Adams had to deal with the untimely death of her mother at a very early age, while keeping up with her schooling, and training for athletics. She was extremely bewildered, angry and unsure of just what she was going to do after the death of her mother. This was a very difficult period in her life but as her mother had been extremely proud of her efforts and had given her great encouragement, she ultimately decided that she would keep up with her athletics,
Adams who left school last year at the age of 17, has decided to keep herself up-to-date on the educational front by attending extra curricular classes in computing.
Her first big international competition occurred in 1999, when after only ten months of training she placed 10th at IAAF World Youth Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. A great feat for a fourteen year-old!
Since then she has gained two World Championship titles, the shot at both the World Youth’s in Debrecen, Hungary in 2001, and World Juniors this summer in Kingston, Jamaica.
Adams also stepped on to the stage at the highest senior level this year too, winning silver in the shot at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and taking a more than creditable sixth place with a huge throw of 18.40 (the furthest ever by a New Zealander) at the IAAF World Cup in Madrid. She proved in Madrid that, even though she was the youngest competitor in the field, she could hold her own with the World’s best. Not surprisingly, Adams possesses every age group shot record in New Zealand and also the Oceania junior records.
Adams is presently preparing for the World Championships in Paris in 2003 and the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, and has recently become the recipient of an Olympic Solidarity Grant, which will help her hugely to build up for those Olympics. It will also allow her the freedom to train on a full-time basis without worrying about how to find funding.
Following a strict training programme, which includes weight sessions at least four times a week, Adams undertakes some type of fitness regime every day, depending on the time of the season. She does not necessarily throw at every training session, as this again will depend on what events she is building up to. She relies on her coach to set her conditioning programme, but is also able to call on the services of a masseur, and goes regularly to a very good chiropractor to get ‘the kinks’ out and to take care of the occasional twinge.
The young New Zealand star has greatly progressed over the last four years. It took some time for her to come to grips with the fact that nature has given her exceptional athletic talent. Her wonderful height and long levers are ideal in the shot circle (and for all throwing events for that matter), but at fourteen years of age who wants to be 6ft 4in tall? She has also been blessed with a wonderful mental attitude, which benefits her greatly when competing. She is completely focussed on her sport.
Adams has also become a wonderful role model for youngsters from the Mangere area. Most of the schools in that area are what is known as ‘low decile’ schools and most of the school students are from a lower socio-economic level. She has proved that no matter what one’s roots are, achievement and success are possible if one is prepared to put in the work. Hard work at that. She is continually giving talks at schools in the Auckland area stressing this point. If you want it “go out an’ get it, it won’t come to you”. She also quotes her coach who says, “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it”.
Adams also competes in the discus and hammer events, this is mainly for fun and to add some variety to her schedule. She even competes in Heavy Athletic Events, i.e. Highland Games that are very popular in Britain, Scandinavia, the United States and, on a much smaller scale, in New Zealand. She is currently training for one of these events, taking place in the New Zealand in the new year. Not too bad for a girl who has just-turned 18 year old. Adams is truly an athlete on the rise.
Tony Hunt for the IAAF
Adams’ International Competition summary -.
1999 World Youth Champs - Shot 12.82m 10th
2001 Olympic Youth Festival - Shot 14.54 gold
and Discus 45.03 gold
2001 World Youth Champs – Shot 16.87m Gold
2002 World Junior Champs – Shot 17.73m Gold
2002 Commonwealth Games – Shot 17.45 Silver
2002 IAAF World Cup – Madrid, ESP Shot 18.40 6th
