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Valerie Adams DNZM (cropped).jpg Photo by New Zealand Government, Office of the Governor-General –

Top 10 Fascinating Facts about Valerie Adams

Valerie is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World Champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion, and twice IAAF Continental Cup winner.

She has a personal throw of 21.24 meters outdoors and 20.98m indoors. Valerie holds the Oceanian junior record and the Oceanian youth record, as well as the World Championships record.

Valerie was the third woman to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior levels of an athletics event. She is also known as the first woman to win four consecutive individual titles at the IAAF World Championships.

She had the largest shot put the performance of the season every year from 2006 to 2014. Valerie has won multiple medals and accomplishments throughout her career.

She retired from an athletics competition in 2022 and in the same year she was appointed to the board of High-Performance Sport New Zealand.

1. Her Coach the Best Mentor

She met the former javelin thrower Kirsten Hellier, who would become her coach for the next 11 years.

Under Kirsten, 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 gained her first international senior placing with the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, throwing 17.45 m.

2. Her Early Life Win

Valerie Vili at the World Championship Athletics 2009 in Berlin Photo by Erik van Leeuwen –

At the age of eighteen years old, she finished fifth at the 2003 World Championships.

However, her first Olympics in 2004 gave her fame when she managed to finish at position seven. This came after she was disqualified two consecutive times while she was recovering from an appendectomy she had just weeks before the competition.

3. Her Win in 3rd Position Fascinated her and the fans

She gave her best win during the World Championship finishing in the third position with a personal best throw of 19.87 m. This came after her seventh position in 2004.

When the original winner, Nadzeya Astapchuk, was disqualified following a 2013 retest of her drug sample from the competition that was found to be positive, Adams’ original bronze medal was upgraded to silver.

Adams originally finished second at the World Athletics Final in 2005 but was promoted to gold after Astapchuk’s results were annulled.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games Adams won the gold medal, breaking the 20-year-old Commonwealth Games record of 19.00 m with a throw of 19.66 m.

4. Fascinating Selection for Top Woman

Osaka07 D2A Valerie Vili Nadine Kleinert.jpg Photo by Eckhard Pecher (Arcimboldo) –

Adams went to the Osaka World Championships in the year 2007, as a favorite to take a medal due to her being one of only three women to throw over 20 m before the championships.

She, however, was never disappointed in her selection. She fascinated her mentors and fans by qualifying with a throw of 19.45 m.

She 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 the few female athletes ever to take IAAF World Titles at youth, junior and senior levels.

5. She Broke the Oceanic Records

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games women’s shot put podium.jpg Photo by Bob Ramsak –

In 2008 Adams broke the Oceania record in winning her first World Indoor Title in Valencia with a throw of 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 Belarusian thrower Natallia Mikhnevich.

It was the first Olympic gold medal in track and field for New Zealand since John Walker won the 1500-meter race in 1976. She also won the New Zealand Sports Award of the year in 2008.

6. Her New Personal Best

Valerie Adams Istanbul 2012.jpg Photo by Erik van Leeuwen –

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’s 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 Gong Lijiao of China.

7. She Dropped her Coach

However, at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships Adams was defeated by Nadzeya Astapchuk by a large margin, in spite of the New Zealander setting a continental record of 20.49 m.

Interestingly and a surprise to many, she 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.

8. She Surprised many with a Great Win

Valerie Adams Daegu 2011.jpg Photo by Erik van Leeuwen –

Adams never gave up easily because after losing to Nadzeya Astapchuk, she later that season won the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup with a season’s best mark of 20.85 m.

She 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.

9. The Great Fourth World Title

Osaka07 D2A Women Shot Put VC.jpg Photo by Eckhard Pecher (Arcimboldo) –

The best decision Adams made was to change her coach in April 2010. Under her new coach Didier Poppe, she won her fourth world championship gold at the 2013 World Championships games in Moscow in August 2013. 

This fourth gold medal surpassed Astrid Kumbernuss for most all time by a female shotputter and made her the first woman to win four straight titles in an event at the competition. 

On 27 September, Adams underwent surgery on her left ankle and right knee, and in March 2014 won her third world indoor championship at Sopot in Poland with a distance of 20.67 m.

Her gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she was New Zealand’s flag-bearer, was her 54th consecutive event win; the streak began in August 2010.

10. New Zealand Order of Merit Dame Companion

GGNZ investiture 26 April 2017 – Valerie Adams.jpg Photo by Governor General of New Zealand –

In the 2017 New Year Honours, Adams was named a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She skipped the entire track and field that season due to pregnancy.

Adams came in second in the shot put at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, with a seasonal best put of 18.70 m.

Adams won her fourth Olympic medal in July 2021, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning a bronze medal with the best out of 19.62 meters (64.4 ft).

Adams announced her retirement from the athletics competition on 1 March 2022 but will continue to coach Lisa Adams.