Valerie Vili

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Medal record
Competitor for Flag of New Zealand New Zealand
Women's athletics
World Championships
Gold 2007 Osaka Shot put
Bronze 2005 Helsinki Shot put
World Indoor Championships
Gold 2008 Valencia Shot put
Commonwealth Games
Gold 2006 Melbourne Shot put
Silver 2002 Manchester Shot put
Vili with the New Zealand flag after her victory at the 2007 World Championships
Vili with the New Zealand flag after her victory at the 2007 World Championships

Valerie Vili, née Adams, (born October 6, 1984 in Rotorua) is a shot putter from New Zealand. She is the reigning world champion and Commonwealth record-holder, having thrown a distance of 20.54 m.

Contents

[edit] Career

Vili first came to promenance 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.

Still just eighteen years old, Vili finished fifth at the World Championships, in 2003.

At her first Olympics in 2004, Vili finished eighth, whilst still recovering from an appendectomy she had just weeks before the competition.

The following year, she earned a place in the international elite, winning a bronze medal at the World Championships with a personal best throw of 19.87 m as well as 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.

[edit] 2007 World Championships

In 2007, Vili went to the Osaka World Championships as a favourite to take a medal dur to her being one of only three women to throw over 20m before the championships.

In qualifying, Vili led the field with a throw of 19.45 m.

Vili held second place throughout the final, behind Nadzeya Ostapchuk, but responded well in the last round with a mammoth throw and Commonwealth record of 20.54 m, to take the gold.

This made Vili one of few female athletes ever to take IAAF World Titles at youth, junior and senior level. [1]

In 2008 Vili broke the Oceania record in winning her first World Indoor Title in Valencia (20.19m).

[edit] Personal life

Valerie Vili is married to Bertrand Vili, a discus thrower from New Caledonia.[2]

She is a daughter of a Tonga immigrant (mother) and Scottish father.

[edit] References

  1. ^ She was the third after Jana Pittman (2003) and Yelena Isinbayeva (2005). Veronica Campbell completed the set the day after Vili.
  2. ^ Taylor, Murray. "Strong winds suppress results in Hamilton", IAAF, 6 February 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-06. 

[edit] External links


Sporting positions
Preceded by
Flag of Belarus Nadezhda Ostapchuk		 Women's Shot Put Best Year Performance
2007		 Succeeded by
Incumbent



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