Olympic champ’s best yet to come

Peter Rees

Valerie Vili...with her Halberg trophy after being announced as the New Zealand Sportsperson of the Year.

OLYMPIC CHAMPION VALERIE VILI STILL SPEAKS about her mother with reverence, 10 years after her death. But though the loss still hurts deeply, Vili has turned that tragic episode into the greatest tribute she could ever wish for.
  Today, Vili is an athletics World, Commonwealth and Olympic champion in women’s shot put. In February, she was recognised as New Zealand’s Sportsperson of the Year at the annual Halberg Awards for the third consecutive year. And all this achieved at just 25.
  Born Valerie Kasanita Adams to a Tongan mother, Lilika Ngauamo, and English father, Vili spent the early part of her life in Rotorua before moving north to Mangere, south Auckland in her formative years.
  In an area where over seventy percent of New Zealand’s Pacific islanders reside, Vili was never far from her Tongan heritage.
  Lilika hailed from the village of Houma on Tongatapu and moved to New Zealand where she met Vili’s father. It was an upbringing typically working class where chances at success were few.
  Not through lack of talent. South Auckland is a sporting goldmine. Jonah Lomu, David Tua, Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon all grew up there. But the reality of South Auckland’s low socio-economic demographics meant few ever got to fulfill their potential.
  As the elder child, Vili had a lot of extra responsibility looking after her younger siblings. That burden increased by the time she was 16.
  A few months before her mother passed away, Vili remembers watching the 2000 Sydney Olympics on TV and telling her mother that one day she would grace that privileged arena.
  The close bond between mother and child was suddenly broken. But the young Vili turned that devastating setback into motivation. It is that promise to her mother that has driven her to success after success.
  “My mum was everything to me. She sacrificed for us and was my inspiration. We grew up strong in our culture. When she died, it was tough for me and my family. But I was determined to make her proud,” she says.
  By her 18th birthday, Vili was a world youth champion (2001), world junior champion and a Commonwealth silver medalist (2002). At her first Olympics in Athens in 2004, the 19-year-old finished eighth.
  The same year she broke the New Zealand and Oceania records. Her big break came a year later in 2005 when she won a bronze medal at the World Champs.
  The following year she announced her arrival by winning gold at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. A year later she won her first world title at the 2007 World Athletics Champs.
  By 2008, Vili was regularly throwing over 20 metres and beating her more experienced opponents on a regular basis.
  At the Beijing Olympics, she not only won her first Olympic gold, she blitzed the field with a mammoth 20.56m throw.
  It was New Zealand’s first track and field gold medal since John Walker in 1976.  The victory was emphatic.
  The sight of Vili’s rapturous celebrations, flapping those powerful arms over her head with the New Zealand flag draping over her shoulders, frantically searching the spectator stands for her family and coach Kirsten Hellier, summed up her dominance.
  Vili is the perfect athlete for the women’s shot put. Standing 6’4” (1.93m) tall with a wide wingspan, giving her a valuable advantage over other throwers, Vili combines those physical attributes with a burning desire to win,
  This is seen in the fiery expressions and animated reactions she is renowned for everytime she enters the circle. Combined together, it is an intimidating sight that often psyches out her opponents.
  Vili’s philosophy is simple. “I focus on training smart, cover all the bases and do what I do best,” she says.
  But personal motivation and physical attributes aren’t the only key factors in Vili’s rise to prominence. If it wasn’t for a chance meeting with current coach Kirsten Hellier in 1998, she may never have been recognised.
  Hellier, a former New Zealand representative javelin thrower, saw the then 14-year-old compete in a schools athletics competition and knew straight away she was special.
  Not only did Vili already tower over her peers, she was breaking age group records with ease and with little training.
  But beneath the imposing physical exterior was a shy Polynesian girl, uncomfortable with her size.
  Hellier introduced herself and offered to coach Vili. They have been inseparable since.
  The relationship between the two has arguably been the determining factor in Vili’s overall success—a fact not overlooked by Vili during her Halberg Award acceptance speech.
  “It’s been an awesome journey. You’ve been my coach for over 11 years. You’re my coach of the year, you’re my coach of the decade, you’re my coach forever and ever, and I hope that our journey will continue,” she told the packed audience of sporting dignitaries and celebrities in Auckland.
  When Lilika died, Hellier took on the motherly role that was missing in Vili’s life. Vili moved in with Hellier and over time, a mutual respect developed between pupil and teacher.
  The discipline that came through was important during her teenage years when many of her school peers were falling by the wayside.
  Today, Vili is loved by all New Zealanders, as much for her demeanour in public than her exploits in athletics.
  Respected both for her humbleness and fiery determination, Vili’s mental toughness shows through her words; both measured and to the point. Just like her attitude to her sport, Vili is not afraid to speak her mind.
  She has often spoke about the lack of funding for top athletes.
  This year, she featured in a poll of Kiwis for the New Zealander of the Year award proving more popular than other sports personalities, even the All Blacks.
  She admits to being more relaxed outside of competition. Happily married to New Caledonian discus thrower Bertrand Vili and a devout Mormon, Vili spends her other spare time with family and friends, and speaking for many charities in the community.
  In 2009, Vili was recognised in the annual Queens Honours honours, when she was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to athletics.
  The journey is not over. Vili will only be 27 by the time the Olympics roll around next in 2012.
  With discus throwers usually maturing in their thirties, Vili could potentially go on to become New Zealand and the Pacific region’s most successful Olympian. Vili has given her strongest indication yet that her best has yet to come.
  “I do my sport for love and nothing else. I have been competing since I was 14 and the journey has only just begun,” she explains.
  That is bad news for other women shot putters looking to knock Vili off her pedestal. She may be there for a long while.