Adams: Better late than never
Dame Valerie Adams says ‘‘justice has been served’’ after she was awarded her 10th world title she was initially denied by Belarusian drug cheat Nadzeya Ostapchuk back in 2010.
Moments after winning her 16th national title in the women’s shot put event in Hamilton yesterday, Adams was presented with the gold medal from the 2010 world indoor athletics championships at a ceremony at Porritt Stadium.
‘‘Better late than never. Justice has been served to some extent with bringing this medal home to New Zealand,’’ Adams said.
‘‘This is the second time this happened to me by the same person. It’s great to share another medal with New Zealand eight years later.’’
This year’s national track and field championships was her first competition since finishing second at the Rio Olympics 19 months ago, as she took time off to have her first child - she and husband Gabriel Price welcomed Kimoana Josephine Adams-Price in October.
Adams, 33, returned to full-time training in December and was then included in New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games team in February, but she needed to compete at nationals to secure her place on the Gold Coast.
And in her first event since giving birth to her daughter five months ago, Adams won the women’s shot put with a throw of 17.83m.
It was announced on Thursday that Adams would receive the gold medal in Hamilton from the 2010 world indoor championships in Doha, Qatar, which was first won by Ostapchuk.
But the Belarusian athlete later tested positive for drugs, was stripped of the gold by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and the medals from the event have been reallocated after recent retesting of historical samples using new technology.
Some upgraded medals were presented by the IAAF at the recent Birmingham world indoor championships and they encouraged national federations to find appropriate occasions to present the medals to athletes not in Birmingham.
Athletics New Zealand said it asked Adams and she said the most appropriate place would be at the national championships.
The upgrade means that she now has four successive world indoor titles from 2008 to 2014.
The IAAF annulled Ostapchuk’s shot put results between August 16 2008 and August 5 2012 and she has been stripped of a number of titles after subsequent testing, including the
2012 Olympics Games shot put gold medal, which was later presented to Adams.
In yesterday’s other events, Joseph Millar retained his national men’s 100m title by winning with a time of 10.46sec, while Zoe Hobbs again won the women’s
100m title as she did in Hamilton last year.