Valerie Vili has won Olympic shot put gold at the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing after posting an explosive opening throw.
Looking frighteningly determined, she managed a phenomenal 20.56 metres, a distance great enough to have won the gold in Athens four years ago by almost a metre.
The throw represented a personal best for Vili, and while her
next attempts were successively shorter it didn't matter as the
rest of the field couldn't get close. She won by 28cm
Vili's penultimate effort looked like it might have extended her
lead, but in fact it fell just short at 20.52.
It didn't matter though, as the silver medallist Natillia
Mikhnevich (20.28) and third placed Nadzrya Ostapihuk (19.86) of
Belarus couldn't overcome the deficit with their final
attempts.
The girl from Rotorua declined to take her superfluous sixth effort as she began her celebrations.
"When you go to a competition like this you want to put pressure on from the word go and I did that," Vili told TVNZ.
"It was an amazing feeling. It was a very long, exciting and nerve-racking competition because you can never put your guard down with the Belarussians up against you."
"I went to hug my sister and niece. I was so happy to share the experience with them."
When asked what the victory meant to her there was a one word
answer: "Everything."
