18 NewZealandFitness,June/July2008

Valerie, or Val as her friends know her, came to prominence when winning the World Youth Championships in 2001 at the age of 17, with a throw of

16.87m. She followed this up in 2002 by becoming World Junior champion, throwing 17.73m and had her first taste of senior success, winning a silver medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, with a 17.45m throw.

Still just at 18 years old, Valerie finished fifth at the World Championships in 2003 and at her first Olympics in 2004, she finished eight, 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 2005 World Championships with a personal best throw of 19.87m as well as going on to finish second at the World Athletics Final. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the 1.96m-tall athlete won the gold medal, breaking the 20-year-old Commonwealth Games record of 19m with a throw of 19.66m.

Last year, Valerie won gold at the 2007 World Championship held in Osaka, with a throw of 19.45m, making her one of the few female athletes ever to take the International Association of Athletics

Federation (IAAF) world titles at youth, junior and senior level.

Valerie has had a stellar year so far, adding the world indoor

shot put title she won in Valencia earlier in March, to

the outdoor title she won in Osaka. The 23-year-old

has been tossing the shot put out to 20m almost

routinely this year and is rapt with her

consistency.

“That was one of my goals to throw 20 metres as much as I can this year in my competitions. Consistency is the key to success.”

Valerie also won her eighth consecutive national title at the track and field National Championships earlier in March. The world outdoor and indoor champion was pleased with her winning series of six throws. Her third effort of 20m was only 0.54m less than her personal best and national record set when she threw her 20.54m World Championship title in Osaka last year.

With such a successful career to date, Valerie is well set to take on the Beijing 2008 in August.

In February she won the Australian championship in Brisbane with a performance of 19.54m and earlier in the month, she won Black Singlet Invitational track and field event in Auckland. Valerie opened the competition with a 19.55m throw and in round two sent the ball of steel out to 20.13m, her best performance this season and the leading distance in the world this year. In the final round she eclipsed the 20-metre barrier with 20.09m.

And to top it off, she won the Halberg supreme award and the Westpac Sportswoman of the Year award on the same night.

“It was a great competition, twice over 20 metres, a new season’s best and to top it off with the Halberg Awards, it was an absolutely fantastic night! I feel really delighted and honoured.”

Valerie’s coach of ten years, Kirsten Hellier, also received coach of the year award and has been a major part of her success.

“It was really nice to be acknowledged and honoured in that way,” says javelin-thrower turned shot put coach Kirsten.

Valerie started playing shot put at school when she was just 14 years old and says “I was the biggest kid at school so just got thrown into it really! ”

And a lot has changed since then, says Kirsten.

Valerie Vili has blasted herself to stardom as shot-put world champion both indoors and

outdoors and is one of New Zealand’s top gold medal contenders for Beijing 2008. SARAH

WEEKS finds out how this 23-year-old Olympic hopeful is preparing for the

biggest competition of her life.

Victorious Valerie

ty18 NewZealandFitness,June/July2008

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Westpac Sportswoman of the Year and Halberg supreme winner Valerie Vili.

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20 NewZealandFitness,June/July2008

Valerie Vili

“She’s had a fairly reflective journey in the sense that she’s lost both her parents at a young age (her father in May last year and mother in 2000) and had to deal with things that most people don’t normally deal with at that age. We know each other very well and it’s been exciting to see her grow and develop over the years. From an athlete’s perspective she’s gone leaps and bounds – from a junior athlete to being one of the best shot put athlete’s in the world.”

“Athletics is an individual sport and can get quite lonesome,” says Valerie, “We travel the world together, I do my thing and she does hers – we are a great team.”

I ask Kirsten about Valerie’s training and if there’s anything she needs to improve on before Beijing.

“Any athlete, whether you’re trying to be the best in the world, or you already are, has always got fine tuning to do. Because if you’re the best in the world, you’ve got somebody who wants to knock you off the perch and if you’re nearly there, you want to be knocking someone else off the perch. I don’t think you would ever get to a level where there was nothing to work on, so its ongoing.”

Consistency, technique, speed, agility, dynamics and strength is what Valerie and her coach will be focusing on for Beijing.

“We really don’t talk about gold medals too much, we think more about what it is we want to achieve distance-wise. Our main focus is to be consistent and peaking at the right time.”

Kirsten’s personal motto is “success doesn’t give you happiness; happiness will give you success”.

With Beijing 2008 in August, Valerie is now knuckling down on her daily training regime. She’ll have a month’s training in New Zealand and a training camp in Townsville, before returning home to travel with the New Zealand team to the Good Luck Beijing event in May, and then the same route again.

Although Valerie is still on a high after her successful world-title wins in Osaka last year and Valencia this year, she is also feeling “pretty good” about her preparations for Beijing.

“Things are going pretty well so far and everything’s on track. Training’s been pretty full on and I’m enjoying it.”

Her training schedule will become more intense in the months leading up to Beijing, but Valerie just smiles, saying: “No pain no gain”.

There’s a lot of pressure on Valerie to bring home an Olympic medal. I ask her the obvious question – does she think she’ll win the gold medal?

“Do I think? Let’s not think. Do I feel? Let’s not feel. I want to perform well in Beijing and I know I’ve got a lot of hard work to do before then. The rest of the competitors in shot-put will be fighting to be the very best and I’ll be out there giving it my best shot too, 110 per cent. Obviously winning gold at the Olympics will be one of my goals!”

She says her biggest competition at the Olympics will be the Europeans and the Chinese.

Valerie has had some amazing highs in her career so far, but doesn’t view anything as a low point, even a shoulder injury she sustained last year.

“I try to look at everything as part of the experience, so don’t focus too much on the lows. It was just through overuse of the shoulders. It’s a very common injury with weightlifters, as they have to lift a lot above the head and obviously shot-put is the same, as you have to throw above your head. It was dealt to by an awesome surgeon and I was able to recover in time for the World Championships and come back stronger.”

Although this injury has gone now, Valerie still sees a physiotherapist

for minor back problems. She trains four to five hours each day with her coach and says fitness is vital to everything she does. On the subject of a healthy diet, she believes “you need to be sensible and stick to moderation.”

It’s never easy to get sponsorship for sport in general and shot put isn’t a hugely popular sport in New Zealand, says Valerie’s personal manager Nick Cowan.

“Anybody who’s going to sponsor an athlete, needs to see some direct benefit to what they’re trying to sell or promote,” says Nick, “Because Valerie is such a special person with special qualities, it’s actually easier to sell. She’s a highly charged competitor with a real empathetic story so she’s quite an attractive proposition for a sponsor.”

“Shot-put is not a glamorous sport either,” says Valerie, “But with some luck, I’ve been able to sign up with Visa and Mitsubushi, which has been awesome in taking a lot of weight off my shoulders.”

Valerie’s half-sister Viv and her niece will be traveling to Beijing to support her during the Olympics. Her husband of four years, Bertrand Vili is a discus thrower from New Caledonia and hopes to be there too if he qualifies to compete at Beijing 2008, where he will be representing France.

“It’s great to have the support of my husband as he understands the demands of being an athlete as well as I understand what he needs to do.”

Kiwi fans will also be there to support Valerie, along with the official New Zealand Olympic team.

“The support from New Zealanders and people helping me has been amazing!”

Valerie is an inspiration to New Zealand’s young athletes and her advice to anyone considering getting into shot-put or athletics in general, is to start by joining a local club.

“If you want to go further, find a good coach to help get your technique right – technique is so important in this sport.”

After Beijing 2008, Valerie will have a year to prepare for defending her world champion title at the 2009 World Championships, which will be held in Berlin in August 2009. In March 2010, Valerie will also defend her world title at the World Indoor Championships to be held in Doha, Qatar. Kiwis will be sure to keep their eyes peeled for this New Zealand champion!

Coach Kirsten Hellier with Valerie Vili.