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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from NEWSTALKSEDB, New.

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Speaker 2: Zealand and the Home Street Jewison at All.

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Speaker 1: Weekend Force Road to Paris twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 2: Man, it is rushing up now eleven days until composition

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Speaker 2: starts at the Paris Olympic Games. We continue traversing the

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Speaker 2: Road to Paris by celebrating some of our great Olympians

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Speaker 2: from Olympic Games past. Dame Valerie Adams is one of

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Speaker 2: New Zealand's most successful and celebrated Olympic athletes. She competed

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Speaker 2: in the shot put at five Olympic Games from two

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Speaker 2: thousand and four to twenty twenty one, becoming the second

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Speaker 2: New Zealand woman after Barbara Kendall to compete at five Olympics.

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Speaker 2: At her second Games, she won gold in Beijing in

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Speaker 2: two thousand and eight.

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Speaker 3: And the way she goes now in a bit to

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Speaker 3: be the Olympic champion, that is more like it very good. Indeed,

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Speaker 3: she'll be a comfortable leader after this at twenty meters

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Speaker 3: fifty six, that's fantastic. It's Valerie and the V is

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Speaker 3: for victorious.

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Speaker 2: And she repeated that feat at London twenty twelve, won

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Speaker 2: silver in Rio twenty sixteen and bronze at the last

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Speaker 2: Olympics in Tokyo in twenty twenty one. She is a

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Speaker 2: four time world champion, a four time World indoor champion,

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Speaker 2: and she also attended five Commonwealth Games, winning three gold

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Speaker 2: and two silver medals from two thousand and two to

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Speaker 2: twenty eighteen. At one point she won one hundred and

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Speaker 2: seven successive shot put competitions. In twenty fourteen, she was

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Speaker 2: named World Athletics Female Athlete of the Year. She won

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Speaker 2: the ngc's Lonsdale Cup five times, was the Hellberg Sportswoman

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Speaker 2: of the Year for seven consecutive years from two thousand

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Speaker 2: and six, and the Hellberg Supreme Award winner three times.

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Speaker 2: In the twenty seventeen New Year's Honors, she was named

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Speaker 2: a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit,

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Speaker 2: making her the youngest Dame in New Zealand history. She

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Speaker 2: had previously been made an Officer of the New Zealand

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Speaker 2: Order of Merit. Dame Valerie Adams is in studio with us.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for taking the time, Dame Valerie

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Speaker 2: to come in. It is such a glittering CV that

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Speaker 2: I've just read out. Where do your Olympic gold medals

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Speaker 2: sit in amongst everything else that you've achieved in your career?

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Speaker 4: In a box in a safe at home. They come

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Speaker 4: up from time to time, believe pretty much.

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Speaker 2: In terms of the context where you put Olympic gold

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Speaker 2: in amongst everything else she've achieved, Where do they sit

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Speaker 2: in that regard?

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Speaker 4: Pretty high up. You know, the Olympics is the pinnacle

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Speaker 4: of your sporting career, and everybody strives and can and

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Speaker 4: train so hard for this very one moment which we're

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Speaker 4: all about to enjoy in a few weeks times, so

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Speaker 4: looking forward to that.

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Speaker 2: Your last Olympics Tokyo three years ago. I remember there

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Speaker 2: was real emotion when you won bronze in Tokyo. Can

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Speaker 2: you take us back to Tokyo?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, Tokyo was quite a journey and it was very

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Speaker 4: emotional and all the feels mentally, physically and emotionally. And

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Speaker 4: that was only because you know, I had my son.

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Speaker 4: I needly carcked it and there was a delayed game,

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Speaker 4: so I had to be separated from my children for

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Speaker 4: a very very long time. It was a games that

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Speaker 4: was quite unique with COVID and being locked out on

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Speaker 4: you know, of certain places and doing things in the

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Speaker 4: very specific way. But all in all, I'm very glad

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Speaker 4: that we had the opportunity and the games you know,

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Speaker 4: continue to happen in twenty twenty one. But winning that

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Speaker 4: bronze medal in Tokyo was felt so much more special

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Speaker 4: to me than winning my two gold medals, and that

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Speaker 4: was only because of the journey it took to get there,

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Speaker 4: but also being there as a mum of two was

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Speaker 4: quite special for me.

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Speaker 2: At times on that journey to Tokyo. Did you think

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Speaker 2: you weren't going to get there?

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Speaker 4: Totally? Shit, Yes, absolutely, you know, for a moment there

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Speaker 4: like I, you know, as as I mentioned, you know,

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Speaker 4: like I nearly when I had my son, didn't nearly

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Speaker 4: make it, and then COVID happened, and you know, old

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Speaker 4: girl was aging, so the body wasn't responding as well

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Speaker 4: as she could. Having two major operations in the abdomen

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Speaker 4: area was not ideal. It's not ideal preparation. But I

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Speaker 4: still continue to have hope and I still continue to

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Speaker 4: use those experiences to kind of inspire me and motivate

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Speaker 4: me towards my goals, because I still had this inkling

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Speaker 4: of hope that I could make it to Tokyo. Everybody

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Speaker 4: knows the type of competitor I am. I'm not a

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Speaker 4: numbers person. So ten months after having a C section

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Speaker 4: and having two major operations after that, I did qualify

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Speaker 4: for the Olympics, which was fantastic, and it was like,

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Speaker 4: you know, I got punched my ticket and all the

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Speaker 4: rest of it to go there. But equally, I knew

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Speaker 4: that if I didn't throw nineteen meters by a certain competition,

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Speaker 4: I was going to pull myself out. So that's the

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Speaker 4: type of pressure I put on myself, even at the

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Speaker 4: stage I was at age wise and physically. And once

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Speaker 4: I was able to meet those criterias, my personal criterias,

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Speaker 4: and I knew I had the opportunity to go to Tokyo,

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Speaker 4: but I also I was there to win a medal.

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Speaker 4: I wasn't there just to be a number. If that

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Speaker 4: makes any sense, it does. It makes total sense. Your daughter,

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Speaker 4: of course, if we go back a few years, was

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Speaker 4: born in twenty seventeen. Was it always the plan to

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Speaker 4: return to elite level competition after that? Well, six months

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Speaker 4: after having a VIC section, Yes, I had every intention

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Speaker 4: to turn up to their Commath Games. And to hold

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Speaker 4: a silver medal at a six month old baby in

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Speaker 4: one hand. That was quite a unique experience, but one

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Speaker 4: I haven't haven't embarked on obviously. But it was very,

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Speaker 4: very tough. But I always knew that I wanted to

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Speaker 4: go to those commath Games, even though it was a

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Speaker 4: lot earlier than the other championships. That was my driving

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Speaker 4: force take to get back into shape and to be

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Speaker 4: able to turn up and perform. And it was a

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Speaker 4: very difficult. I'm not gonna lie, I'm having a c

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Speaker 4: section for the very first time. To have to get

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Speaker 4: her out was quite intense. I didn't realize that, you know,

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Speaker 4: things moved a bit differently, things are a little bit looser.

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Speaker 4: So I had to modify training to be able to

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Speaker 4: get to those games. And I'm glad I.

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Speaker 2: Did incredible just on twenty twenty one as well, your

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Speaker 2: sister Lisa one Paralympic gold in the shop put in

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Speaker 2: Tokyo under your guidance. That must have been incredibly special

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Speaker 2: as well.

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Speaker 3: Was it?

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Speaker 4: Oh, it was wonderful. It was awesome to be able

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Speaker 4: to compete at the Olympics and then stay on for

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Speaker 4: the Paralympics, to be able to support Lisa in her

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Speaker 4: journey towards her gold medal. You know, it was a

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Speaker 4: fantastic experience for the both of us and also for

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Speaker 4: the New Zealand team. And to be able to be

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Speaker 4: part of that Paralympic Games. I've never been a part

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Speaker 4: of something like that before. Was quite special just to

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Speaker 4: see things, to see how they do things. But man,

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Speaker 4: the athletes at the Paralympics this phenomenal. They're absolutely just

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Speaker 4: special human beings who do extraordinary things. And I was very,

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Speaker 4: very very wowed by just meeting these athletes and just

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Speaker 4: seeing what they're able to do, what the capabilities are

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Speaker 4: with the physical disabilities that they did did have, was

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Speaker 4: quite extraordinary.

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Speaker 2: Your first Olympics Athens two thousand and four, But I

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Speaker 2: think you just had an appendectomy. Yes, and you never

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Speaker 2: go you never go the easy way, do you No, that's.

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Speaker 4: Boring, that's bory No. Yes, the yeah. Six weeks before

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Speaker 4: the Olympic Games in Olympia, I had appendicitis and I

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Speaker 4: had yeah. Yeah, it wasn't very good, so I was

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Speaker 4: had surgery, managed to make it on the plane, manage

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Speaker 4: to perform a like, have two competitions before competing in Olympia,

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Speaker 4: but the downfall to all of that was a, Yes,

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Speaker 4: having an abdominal surgery, but b not having the competition

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Speaker 4: fitness to be able to perform better at those games. However,

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Speaker 4: as a youngster, I finished tenth in the day. Now

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Speaker 4: sitting at fifth position. Who knows, with technology another way,

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Speaker 4: they're testing all the all the samples at the moment,

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Speaker 4: they could change, but I'm sitting at fifth place at

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Speaker 4: the moment. At my very first Olympic Games.

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Speaker 2: All right, gold in Beijing in two thousand and eight,

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Speaker 2: What stands out most vividly about those games.

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Speaker 4: It was one that ran to the box, like everything

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Speaker 4: ran to plan. It was a perfect competition. I dominated

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Speaker 4: from the start, I out, I did all my competitors mentally,

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Speaker 4: physically and emotionally, and I was able to perform at

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Speaker 4: my very best PB gold medal. It was just everything

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Speaker 4: was perfect. I cannot fault those games at all because

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Speaker 4: everything just ran absolutely amazingly well for me. But quite

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Speaker 4: an amazing competition all in all, because you know Beijing,

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Speaker 4: and to be able to go to Beijing two months

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Speaker 4: before the games and all the smug and everything else,

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Speaker 4: and then two months later it was like you're in

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Speaker 4: paradise was quite extraordinary to experience. But yeah, perfect competition.

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Speaker 2: When you are throwing at your best like that, what

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Speaker 2: does that feel like? Both physically and mentally? Are you

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Speaker 2: in some sort of flow state when that happens.

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Speaker 4: It's easy. It's so easy that you're like, oh okay, sweet,

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Speaker 4: that's when you're in that state and when you're when

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Speaker 4: you're competing and things go really really well. Technically, it's

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Speaker 4: such an easy throw and it's so effortless that it's

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Speaker 4: it's an incredible feeling. However, that happens once in a while,

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Speaker 4: but when it does happen, it's it's quite amazing. So, yeah, you.

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Speaker 2: Won gold in twenty twelve as well, but it was

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Speaker 2: only awarded to you after the disqualification of Nadzia a Stopchuk.

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Speaker 2: I seem to remember and correct me if I'm wrong

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Speaker 2: that when you got the silver there was a little

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Speaker 2: bit of almost blowback as though silver wasn't good enough

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Speaker 2: you eventually got gold. Did all of that dilute the

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Speaker 2: achievements at all for you?

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Speaker 4: You know, like I think that journey to the twenty

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Speaker 4: twelve Olympics, you know, everything happened nothing like a bit

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Speaker 4: of drama right, and nothing goes easy, you know, not

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Speaker 4: being entered into the Olympics in the first instance, to

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Speaker 4: being entered and mean to finish with the silver medal. Absolutely,

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Speaker 4: it was very devastating on the day, But and then

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Speaker 4: getting it awarded seven days later, did it daylue Not

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Speaker 4: at all. It just showcase the fact that I was

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Speaker 4: able to compete under the pressure that I was under,

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Speaker 4: that I was in and bring the best that I

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Speaker 4: could on the day and it eventually paid off. The

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Speaker 4: hardest thing for me was the mental battle and the

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Speaker 4: I guess the comments and you know, people's opinions on

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Speaker 4: the way I performed on the day that I should

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Speaker 4: have won the gold medal, because you know, that was

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Speaker 4: the goal, and ultimately for me, I felt like a

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Speaker 4: failure on the day. But then seven days later I

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Speaker 4: became a national hero. So lots of learnings from that

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Speaker 4: and that I want, you know, continue to scream out

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Speaker 4: loud that you know, we need to celebrate every medal

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Speaker 4: this country gets, and everybody strives for a gold medal.

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Speaker 4: It's not for lack of want or lack of trying,

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Speaker 4: but it's sport and it does happen. Fortunately for me,

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Speaker 4: I got awarded it. Seven days later they caught her

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Speaker 4: and they you know, disqualified her. But for a lot

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Speaker 4: of athletes, you know, it could be years down the line,

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Speaker 4: eight years, ten years with until they get their gold medal.

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Speaker 4: So I'm one of the lucky ones. However, the damage

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Speaker 4: was done when the competition definition. Then I try to

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Speaker 4: get myself back up after that, but yeah, it is

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Speaker 4: the way the cookie crumbles. You just got to be

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Speaker 4: able to, I guess stay strong.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but you were robbed of standing on top of

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Speaker 2: the podium, you know, in London and hearing New Zealand's

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Speaker 2: national anthem again. I know you heard it once we

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Speaker 2: got back here and there was a special ceremony and

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Speaker 2: it was it was awesome, But I mean, did you

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Speaker 2: feel robbed in any way looking back at that at

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Speaker 2: that moment, one hundred percent.

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Speaker 4: That was probably the hardest part is actually that moment

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Speaker 4: was taken away from you. I had my family members

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Speaker 4: there who traveled all the way from New Zealand. I

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Speaker 4: had friends, eighty thousand people, and it was a moment

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Speaker 4: that I should have been able to enjoy standing up

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Speaker 4: on a dice. Yet I had to set up on

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Speaker 4: a dice on the second place together and actually listen

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Speaker 4: to her national anthem, and that was hard, and it

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Speaker 4: was a moment that you can never ever get back.

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Speaker 4: And I know they we did something here back in

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Speaker 4: New Zealand, and it would probably never happen again in

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Speaker 4: my lifetime, something like that happening here in New Zealand. However,

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Speaker 4: that moment was taken away from me, and yes, I

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Speaker 4: was robbed of it, but I'm glad she was caught.

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Speaker 4: You know, you always got to try and look at

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Speaker 4: the bright side. And now it's good, you know, to

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Speaker 4: look back on it. And actually I guess Honan on

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Speaker 4: that a bit more. But in that moment, absolutely I

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Speaker 4: had a few colorful words to express.

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Speaker 2: Did you know she was cheating?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, it's I mean, yes, yes, absolutely, I mean

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Speaker 4: it's my coach said something up for the competition and

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Speaker 4: just you know, kept quiet, and he got ridiculed for it,

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Speaker 4: because then you need to said because they are so

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Speaker 4: you know, what do you think about her performances? And

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Speaker 4: Jean Pierre said, you know, I have nothing to say

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Speaker 4: except you know, wait and see he knew something was

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Speaker 4: going on. And then sure enough seven days later, but

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Speaker 4: everything kind of came to life because I beat her

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Speaker 4: in May at the Diamond League in Rome. I threw

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Speaker 4: twenty one meters and it was a great competition for me.

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Speaker 4: And then she went back to Belarus and she never

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Speaker 4: exited Belarus until she came to London, so then she

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Speaker 4: was she went into to Belarus and she competed and

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Speaker 4: stayed there within themitary confinements and then that's you know,

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Speaker 4: where she was training. So as far as drug testers

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Speaker 4: and things like that goes, it was very difficult for

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Speaker 4: them to even get into the country to test her.

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Speaker 4: And you know, like it's it is what it is,

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Speaker 4: and they do whatever they can to win those medals.

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Speaker 4: But she's still seen as a national hero and they

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Speaker 4: took back the medal when she did win in twenty

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Speaker 4: twelve and celebrated and all the rest of it. But yeah,

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Speaker 4: it's just one of those things you got to deal

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Speaker 4: with within sports, and unfortunately it's systematic from the top,

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Speaker 4: you know, as opposed to an individual bid to be

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Speaker 4: able to do this.

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Speaker 2: Crazy Well, history will judge her and her country. Just

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Speaker 2: on Rio sixteen Dameville, another medal, this time silver. Again.

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Speaker 2: You led into the final round, any tinge of disappointment.

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Speaker 2: You couldn't get gold.

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Speaker 4: There's ploys that's appointment if you don't get gold. But

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Speaker 4: equally again, for me personally, it was like I hadn't

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Speaker 4: thrown that far in like three years. I had two

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Speaker 4: major operations that took me out of twenty fifteen. And

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Speaker 4: these are all the things that people don't know. You know,

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Speaker 4: people only see the medals. And yes, would have loved

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Speaker 4: to get the three pete. That was always our goal.

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Speaker 4: But getting nubbed in the first in the last round

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Speaker 4: absolutely sucked. But the same thing. It's sport. You win some,

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Speaker 4: you lose some. But I don't see it as losing.

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Speaker 4: I see it as like I got second best on

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Speaker 4: the day, like you know, say lovey, And I was

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Speaker 4: able to enjoy it myself and celebrate it because the

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Speaker 4: journey it took to get to Rio in itself was very,

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Speaker 4: very difficult. But it would have been great to get

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Speaker 4: the three pete and hey, all good, you know, oh good.

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Speaker 2: Love it.

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Speaker 4: Silver medal is great. You know, people will kill for

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Speaker 4: a bloody silver medal.

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Speaker 2: So per, when do you think you were at the

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Speaker 2: absolute peak of your powers in your career? When were

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Speaker 2: you throwing in that flow state where it was as

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Speaker 2: you said before, easy, When was that twenty twelve?

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Speaker 4: Absolutely twenty twelve when I moved to Switzerland and trained

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Speaker 4: to Jean Pierre under his guidance, and basically twenty twelve

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Speaker 4: and so twenty eleven when I broke the world championship record,

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Speaker 4: and that was the start of it. And then basically

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Speaker 4: into the twenty twelve season, I was pretty much unstoppable

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Speaker 4: and I was my best physically, mentally, emotionally, like I

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Speaker 4: was humming on all four Cylanders, and I'm not saying

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Speaker 4: all the other seasons I wasn't humming. That just stood

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Speaker 4: out for me from a physical point of view, in

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Speaker 4: particular because when I moved to Switzerland and when I

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Speaker 4: approached Ian Pierre to take me on, he basically like

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Speaker 4: told me if I wanted to Survivor's training, I needed

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Speaker 4: to lose a bit of weight and you know, get

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Speaker 4: fit to be able to survive it. And I took

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Speaker 4: that information, came home, trained so hard to get myself

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Speaker 4: into a physical state which I was where I was

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Speaker 4: able to perform, went back to Switzerland and then we're

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Speaker 4: like basically head down, bump up, and worked so hard

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Speaker 4: that in six seven months time, I went to the

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Speaker 4: World Championships in Daegu, broke the championship record which had

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Speaker 4: been starre there since nineteen eighty seven. So that was

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Speaker 4: a fantastic competition for me.

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Speaker 2: Fantastic present day. It seems a silly question for a

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Speaker 2: mum of two, but what takes up most of your

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Speaker 2: time now?

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Speaker 4: I don't know. I asked my manager a bit like

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Speaker 4: if everything really life is very busy at the moment,

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Speaker 4: very complex, but it's it's great, like it's with I'm

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Speaker 4: the I have the opportunity to be able to do

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Speaker 4: some things that I really want to do, make some changes,

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Speaker 4: be a part of like I'm being a chairperson of

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Speaker 4: the Athletes Commissioner World Championship at the World Athletics has

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Speaker 4: been amazing, been part of the counsel to be the

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Speaker 4: athlete's voice from a global point of view, and with

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Speaker 4: higher form of sport New Zealand has been on the

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Speaker 4: board there. Then I've got no store, heavily involved all

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Speaker 4: my sponsors, which the bloody fantastic and then two young

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Speaker 4: children both at primary school now, which is awesome. So

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Speaker 4: and that single mom life. You know, it's not always easy,

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Speaker 4: you know, when you're trying to work and navigate and

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Speaker 4: organize everybody. It's just all part and parcel of what

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Speaker 4: we do. So life is very busy. I'm busier now

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Speaker 4: than I was before because you know, as an athlete,

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Speaker 4: you can just be like, no, I can't. I can't

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Speaker 4: because I'm training, training, training. But it's a great opportunity

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Speaker 4: right now to make some changes and to see progress

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Speaker 4: and help people where you can, and be a part

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Speaker 4: of great charities like you know, Jamie's for June and

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Speaker 4: things like that, which actually are very close to your heart,

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Speaker 4: especially within your community. But watch the space, what's amazing.

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Speaker 2: Final question is the one I've asked all of our

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Speaker 2: guests on this feature, and you actually alluded to it

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Speaker 2: at the start about I mean we're on Earth. Do

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Speaker 2: you keep all of your medals? Are they really just

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Speaker 2: in a box somewhere?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, they're in a box in the safe, like I'm

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Speaker 4: not kidding. So from time to time I have to

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Speaker 4: take them places. I'm yanked them out, and then the

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Speaker 4: kids come and have a little play and throw them around,

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Speaker 4: and then I take them away with me and then

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Speaker 4: they go back into the box. So yeah, I mean

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Speaker 4: my house is pretty much for all the toys and

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Speaker 4: kids shoes and you know, kids clothes and all the

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Speaker 4: rest of it, because it's all about them, right, Like

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Speaker 4: they don't actually really give them a but what mum's done.

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Speaker 4: But I do laugh from time to time when walking

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Speaker 4: down the supermarket and people want to take photos and

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Speaker 4: my six year old daughters giving them the side eye

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Speaker 4: as if to ask, like, what are you doing? So

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Speaker 4: she doesn't understand. But I don't really know, apart from

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Speaker 4: the other day where my son's classies five went to

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Speaker 4: the library and there's an Olympic book and he opened

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Speaker 4: and he goes, this is my mum and he had

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Speaker 4: a massive grin from cheek to cheeck and the teacher

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Speaker 4: sent me a phone and I thought that was really sweet.

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Speaker 4: So one day they'll know what their mum's done, but

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Speaker 4: for now they don't really care.

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Speaker 2: I love that.

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Speaker 3: I love that.

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Speaker 2: Incredible career. Dame Valerie Ongoing, your work is just amazing.

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Speaker 2: As chair of the World Athletics Athletes Commission. Enjoy your

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Speaker 2: trip to Paris as a fan for the first time

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Speaker 2: and I think, what two decades and thanks for taking

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Speaker 2: the time for a chat today.

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Speaker 4: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

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Speaker 2: No, thank you for popping in Dame bel Dame Valerie

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Speaker 2: Adams our latest guest on the Road to Paris. It's

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Speaker 2: been amazing to catch up with all of these former Olympians.

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Speaker 2: Another one. There's some great stories and insight from Dame

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Speaker 2: Valerie Adams. One more guest on the Road to Paris.

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Speaker 2: Next Sunday, just after the two o'clock news. Don't forget

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Speaker 2: the news Talks. He'd be as an official radio partner

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Speaker 2: of the upcoming Paris Olympics and on Gold Sport you

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Speaker 2: will get through the night coverage, wall to wall commentary

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Speaker 2: of Kiwi's and others doing amazing things at the Paris

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Speaker 2: Olympic Games.

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Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, Listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talks at b weekends from midday, or follow

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00:19:16,267 --> 00:19:17,867
Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio