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Valerie Adams - Source: Reuters -
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New Zealand shot-put star Valerie Adams is the most googled Kiwi athlete since the start of August.
Figures released today show that the newly instated gold-medal
winner is the person New Zealanders have searched for most this
month
on google.co.nz.
It was announced last night that Adams would receive the gold medal in the shot-put after her competitor Nadzeya Ostapchuk failed pre and post Games drugs testing.
The Belarusian tested positive for metenolone, which is classified as anabolic steroid. Olympic authorities will now strip her of her medal.
This, and the embarrassing administrative error which almost saw Adams watching the competition from the sidelines, made Adams our most searched for Olympian so far this month.
Search engine Google today released the figures, which also saw BMX silver-medallist Sarah Walker and bronze winner Mark Todd take second and third place.
The top international athletes which New Zealanders googled were Britain's gold-medal winning heptathlete Jessica Ennis and Jamaican sprinting phenomenon Usain Bolt.
South African Oscar Pistorius also made the list.
"The fastest-rising athletes on Google show you which athletes Kiwis are curious to find out more about," said Google Australia and New Zealand's Johnny Luu.
"It's a good indicator for who has captured our collective curiosities during the Games."
Top athletes New Zealanders searched for:
National:
1 - Valerie Adams, Shot put gold
2 - Sarah Walker, BMX silver
3 - Mark Todd, Equestrian bronze
4 - Charlotte Harrison, Hockey 4th
5 - Nick Willis, 1500m 9th
6 - Andrea Hewitt, Triathlon 6th
7 - Lucy van Dalen, 1500m semi finals
8 - Eric Murray, Rowing pair gold
9 - Ben Fouhy, K1 kayak semi finals
10 - Lisa Carrington, K1 kayak gold
International:
1 - Jessica Ennis, Britain, heptathlon gold
2 - Usain Bolt, Jamaica, track 100m, 200m, 4x100m, gold
3 - Tom Daley, Britain, diving 10m, bronze
4 - Leryn Franco, Portugal, javelin, 18th - model
5 - Michael Phelps, USA, swimming butterfly, freestyle relay,
medley relay, individual medley, gold
6 - Marcel Nguyen, Germany, gymnastics all around, parallel bars,
silver
7 - Oscar Pistorius, South Africa, track 400m, 4x400m - double
below-knee amputee
8 - Regina George, Nigeria, track 400m, 4x400m
9 - Ryan Lochte, USA, swimming freestyle, backstroke, freestyle
relay, individual medley
10 - Lolo Jones, USA, hurdles, 4th - publicly announced she will
stay a virgin until married