Dame Val and Tom show has a golden glow
‘‘I haven’t been able to feel my toes for an hour,’’ said a shivering official at The Big Shot, an event that drew the world’s greatest shot put competitors to a tiny inner city site in Christchurch built from the rubble of the 2011 earthquake. Then he laughed with what looked like delight.
The moment basically summed up the occasion. A bitterly cold wind had swept in during the afternoon, but there was a genuine warmth and joy for throwers and spectators, with fans at the intimate venue enjoying a proximity to the athletes usually reserved for coaches at a training session.
Tom Walsh, his top soaked in sparkling wine, sprayed on the victory dias by the giant competitors he describes as ‘‘good mates’’, darted back from interviews to pose for photos with kids.
Dame Valerie Adams, who threw her best of the season, 18.06m, graciously conceded defeat on the day to Canadian Brittany Crew, who threw 18.42m. The biggest roar of the day came when, after Walsh had accepted her challenge to lift Adams in his arms, she then hoisted him in her arms.
Crew got into the slightly giddy spirit of the day, too. The on-field announcer asked if she’d consider a move to New Zealand. ‘‘Sure, if someone can find me a husband.’’
As John Walker, Rod Dixon and Dick Quax once made New Zealand the centre of the middle distance running world in the 1970s, so Adams and Walsh have focused international attention on the country’s shot putting.
On Friday night the three medal winners in the men’s shot at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 were all in Christchurch, along with American Ryan Whiting, the 2014 world indoor champion, and Pole Konrad Bukowiecki, the world under-20 champion. In the women’s field there was Crew, Canada’s national champion, and another Canadian who will be at
I’ve got work at being patient and going long, rather than being fast [in the circle] and impatient. Dame Valerie Adams
the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Taryn Suttie,
And The Big Shot gave a great hint of how the race for gold at the Games is shaping up.
Walsh threw 21.60m to finish handily ahead of O’Dayne Richards from Jamaica (20.61m). In Glasgow four years ago it was Richards who won gold, with Walsh, then only 22, taking silver.
Just two days earlier, in his hometown of Timaru, Walsh had set a national residents record of 22.03m, so the hot streak that started when he won the world indoor title in Birmingham a fortnight ago keeps on burning.
Right now he seems physically incapable of throwing less than 21m. ‘‘I’ve thrown [big] distances like this before,’’ he said in Christchurch. ‘‘But to be throwing them, and still not feel like I’m really nailing them, is such a good thing. I’ve still got a little bit up my sleeve.’’ He will start on the Gold Coast as hot favourite.
Dame Valerie is in a fascinating race against time, as she conducts what is basically a one-woman challenge to see how quickly an athlete in a strength event can reach top form after having a baby.
Baby Kimoana was born on October 10. Exactly six weeks later Valerie started driving across the harbour bridge to begin training at the Millenium high performance centre. A 31⁄2 months build-up, virtually from scratch, to a Commonwealth Games, for one of the best prepared athletes the world has ever seen, is, to put it mildly, a dramatic change.
But a week ago in Hamilton, at the national championships, she was happy to discover that being in the circle in a competition soon felt like being back home again.
Christchurch? She had been, she said the next day, a little frustrated. ‘‘I’ve got work at being patient and going long, rather than being fast [in the circle] and impatient.’’
Still, with a competitive temperament as fierce and tested as she has, it will take a very good thrower to stop Dame Valerie defending her Commonwealth title next month.