Valerie Adams – Moscow 2013
14TH IAAF World Athletic Championships, Moscow – 10/18 August 2013
12 August: Valerie Adams became the first woman athlete to win four world titles with an emphatic display of shot putting at the 2013 World Championships.
The twice Olympic champion and now four times world champion led after the first round with 20.41m, the only one in the round to go over 20 metres. Michelle Carter of USA was out to 19.92m and Christina Schwanitz of Germany 19.22m. Adams improved five centimetres in round two, Lijiao Gong of China advanced to second with 19.95m Carter was out to 19.94m, Schwanitz increased her throw to 19.72m and Evgeniia Kolodko of Russia moved into fifth with 19.49m.
Adams stamped her authority on the event in the third round with an explosive throw of 20.88m, with none of the other leading throwers improving.
Adams was not happy with her fourth round indicating she didn’t want it measured, round five was out to 20.76m much to the delight of her coach Jean-Pierre Egger in the stands opposite the circle. The final round came up with 20.32m.
Her previous titles have been in Osaka (2007), Berlin (2009) and Daegu (2011).
The four world titles sit alongside her two Olympic Gold Medals and her unbeaten streak of 39 straight victories stretching back 3 years. The only athlete to have beaten Adams since 2006 is a disgraced drug cheat.
Adams dedicated her win to her coach Jean-Pierre Egger, and revealed a birthday greeting for her Swiss mentor written on her hand at the medal ceremony.
The 28 year old paid tribute to New Zealand and to her coach in the post event interviews.
“The most amazing thing tonight was to be able to do that for New Zealand, to create history and to give my coach a birthday present for his 70th birthday this year – something he doesn’t know before the event but I told him when I was coming here going through the mixed zone and it’s down to the hard work that we’ve put in together and down to the discipline that I’ve been through, she said.
It has not been an easy year for Adams.
“This year has been a little bit harder for me with injuries and trying to stay on top, I may have seem calm from the outside looking in – but it’s one of the srings that I have is to try and keep it calm and focused on what I’ve got to do.”
“I’m very pleased with tonight’s performances – a wins a win 21 metres would have been great but hey what the hell four titles is what you get, to have this gold medal around my neck, I’ve got four of these babies now it’s pretty amazing and quite emotional.
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