By One News / TVNZ and is republished with permission
Dame Valerie Adams didn’t know why she kept looking up into the stands and imagining her children during the women’s shot put final in Tokyo yesterday.
What she does know is it helped her claim a historic bronze medal.
“In a normal world they would’ve been there watching and it would’ve been great but it was just awesome to draw that energy from that feeling that I had in just imagining them up there,” Dame Valerie told media after the final.
“It was just knowing, ‘there goes my why’ and wanting to make them proud.
“It was an emotional day and an awesome day for me and my little family.”
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During the media conference, Dame Valerie had a photo of her two young children attached to a lanyard so they could be part of the experience.
“This is my why. These two children are my why and I hope I just made them proud.”
Heading into the last round of the final, Dame Valerie was sitting in the bronze medal position thanks to her third attempt of 19.62m.
Portugal’s Auriol Dongmo was right on her tail though, having thrown 19.57m in round four.
Thanks to the seeding in the first three rounds, Dongmo would make her final attempt just before Adams, meaning the Kiwi would enter her final throw knowing whether she needed to beat the Portuguese athlete or if she had already won a medal.
As it turned out, Dame Valerie got to make her last attempt knowing she’d already earned a place on the podium with Dongmo only managing 19.45m with her final effort.
The moment wasn’t lost on the Kiwi who couldn’t contain her emotions after her final throw.
“I was extremely emotional in that moment, just reflecting on what had happened in the last five years, what it’s taken to be here, how much work it had taken, the many travels up and down the country to make this happen, being away from my children to make this happen.
“I guess that all just surfaced at the very moment of knowing you’ve secured a medal and that all came out at that very moment and I couldn’t contain it.
“It was such an amazing feeling – it may have looked a bit intense from home but it was just so amazing. It was almost like a release of energy.”
Adams finished behind American Raven Saunders and Olympic champion Lijiao Gong from China.
