Valerie Adams Begins European Campaign

Valerie Adams Begins European Campaign

Valerie Adams has her first outing in her final build-up to the London Olympics in Rome tonight at the famous Golden Gala Diamond League meeting in the stadium used for the 1960 Olympic Games. Adams, the reigning Olympic Shot Put Champion and three times World Champion is preparing to defend her Olympic title in the mountains of Switzerland with her coach Jean-Pierre Egger. This is what the IAAF say in their meeting preview: New Zealand's Valerie Adams, holder of three successive World Championship gold medals the last including a Championships' record and the world's biggest throw for 11 years of 21.24 and the reigning Olympic champion goes head-to-head with Nadzeya Ostapchuk the Belarusian who in recent times has been the only woman likely to break her domination of the event. To date that has only happened at the 2010 World Indoor Championships when Ostapchuk triumphed and with her 2005 World Outdoor gold medal with rookie Adams third. But since, the 27-year-old Kiwi has proved the dominant competitor although away from the major championships the playing field is more level with Adams leading 16-15 in their encounters but more importantly on the last eight occasions. Adams shot put starts at 6.15pm on Thursday 31 May Rome time, which is Friday 4.15am NZ time. Meeting details: http://www.diamondleague-rome.com/en/Live-StartlistsResults/Overview/