Valerie Kasanita Adams (formerly known as Valerie Vili), ONZM (born 6 October 1984) is a shot putter from New Zealand. She is the reigning women's Olympic champion and three-time World champion, two-time Commonwealth and World Indoor champion. She currently holds the New Zealand, Oceanian, Commonwealth and equal World Championship records with a personal best throw of 21.24 metres.
Adams is one of only seven athletes (along with Usain Bolt, Veron...
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Valerie Kasanita Adams (formerly known as Valerie Vili), ONZM (born 6 October 1984) is a shot putter from New Zealand. She is the reigning women's Olympic champion and three-time World champion, two-time Commonwealth and World Indoor champion. She currently holds the New Zealand, Oceanian, Commonwealth and equal World Championship records with a personal best throw of 21.24 metres.
Adams is one of only seven athletes (along with Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, and Dani Samuels) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.
In 1998 Adams first met former javelin thrower Kirsten Hellier, who would become her coach for the next 11 years.
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 had her first taste of senior success winning a silver medal at...
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