Photography: Emily Chalk
Dame Valerie Adams throws out her long, still-powerful arms, tips back her head and declares herself a “blank canvas”. After a colossal athletics career, where she was comfortably decked out in tracksuits and the unmistakable black singlet with the silver fern, the double Olympic gold medallist now wants to be a fashion model.
But only, she stresses, if she’s wearing something completely out of the ordinary. It’s the Kiwi shot-putting dame’s dream to be a muse for a designer in the World of WearableArt event.
“I want someone to design an amazing costume for me, so I can walk down the WOW runway feeling like a stunning Amazon woman,” the 1.93m-tall, retired sporting superstar says. “Don’t ask me why – I know I’m used to stadiums and tracksuits, and I’d be totally out of my comfort zone. Maybe it’s the new era in my life? But I could be such a massive canvas to really accentuate someone’s creativity.”
Two years after she finally stepped off the international athletics stage as an eight-time world champion and five-time Olympian, Valerie is treading a new path. On the cusp of turning 40, she’s a busy single mum to her two children, daughter Kimoana, six, and son Tava, five.
She’s a powerful voice for sports-people in the World Athletics federation, she sits at the board table of one of the country’s top sporting organisations and she’s an ambassador for a legion of causes close to her heart.
Valerie’s embracing her femininity and now loves fashion – she even has a separate wardrobe for her “obsession” with shoes. She’s come a long way from the 13-year-old who broke her first shot-put record in bare feet. She admits she’s the happiest she’s been in ages.
“When people ask me what I do now, I tell them, ‘Well, I don’t have a nine-to-five job,’” smiles Valerie. She will sometimes attend 3am World Athletics meetings via video call from her East Auckland home. “I’m so grateful I have the opportunity to utilise my platform and my profile to help make change, and raise awareness.
“I’m a very vibrant person. I like to try to help people where I can, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. My capacity is large, but sometimes I take on too much.
“However, when I see change, when I see people growing and becoming more resilient, especially our young girls or female athletes, I feel empowered to speak up. We just need a few more Valeries around to help do this!”
Valerie’s two adorable kids remain her biggest motivation. “They can drive me wild at times, but I love them unconditionally,” she grins. “They’re growing like weeds and doing really well at school.
“I’m in a really good space right now. Yes, there’s a lot going on and I’m exhausted a lot of the time, but I can honestly say I’m in the best shape – mentally and emotionally – I’ve been in for a while. It’s been a long time of climbing and surviving, but we’re doing okay.”
Life is too short to dwell on the past, says Valerie. She separated from her second husband, Gabriel Price, almost two years ago. There are challenges too – Kimoana has autism and Tava has type 1 diabetes – but the trio are a tight-knit team, spending quality time together “making memories”.
As Valerie’s milestone birthday approaches in October, she’s often reminded of her own mum, Lilika, who passed away in 2000, in 15-year-old Valerie’s arms.
“I’m 39 and my mum was 39 when she died. As I edge towards 40, I’ve been going to visit her a lot, often with the kids. It’s really comforting.”
Her mother would no doubt be proud of Valerie as an athlete, an advocate, a coach, a champion, a leader and especially as a mum.
An Olympic return
This month, Valerie heads to Paris for her sixth Olympic Games. But for the first time in 20 years, she won’t be competing. It’s likely to feel strange for Valerie. She made her Olympic debut at the 2004 Games at age 19, just weeks after an appendectomy, finishing seventh. She went on to win gold in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. Then, a silver in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and a bronze in Tokyo three years ago, at the age of 37.
It’s hard to forget the image of Valerie clutching a photo of Kimoana and Tava moments after winning that bronze, declaring that it meant “so much more” than her gold medals and saying that she hopes to inspire other female athletes to return to sport as mothers.
But at these Olympics, Valerie will very much be a spectator. And rather than fighting off the lure to enter the throwing circle, she’s confident she’ll appreciate being in the stands.
“It’s very different on this side of the fence,” she says. “When I went to the World Athletics Champs straight after I retired, it was really weird, with people asking me if I was competing. That was my ‘I must still look like an athlete’ moment! But this time, I’ll be sitting in the stands and commentating with a friend.”
It’s her way of dealing with any envy that may smoulder watching the world’s best throwers go to work. “I comment on their technique and their demeanour outside the circle. I either say it to myself or to Cleopatra, my partner in crime.”
That’s Cleopatra Borel, the three-time shot-put Olympian from Trinidad and Tobago. She won silver to Valerie’s gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Competitive rivals, they struck up a friendship on the athletics circuit and now Cleopatra is Valerie’s “plus-one” at international events.
“We really enjoy commentating to each other. We both know when you’re at a major championship, it comes down to that one per cent up here,” says Valerie, tapping her head. “It’s all about controlling yourself technically, but also emotionally and mentally, as the hype can get too much.
“Then I imagine myself out there and think, ‘Man, I was a hard arse.’ In my facial expressions and my demeanour, the aura around me was like, ‘I’m here to kill!’
“I remember that amazing feeling of being in that moment. But then I think about all the training lead-up, the sleepless nights and the pressure of competing, and I’m like, ‘Nope, I’m happy where I am now!’
“I feel very blessed to be part of such an amazing movement, and to have the capacity to try to make change for the betterment of a sport and to grow that sport globally.”
Valerie will be busy attending meetings in Paris as the chair of the World Athletics Athletes’ Commission.
She explains, “I still have to do training, only it’s mental and emotional training. Preparing for presentations or any curly questions that might come my way from my council members.”
She also plans to spend time with two of her longtime partners, Visa and Toyota, and hopefully snag a ticket to an Olympic basketball game or any event where other Kiwis are competing.
Valerie expects this to be an exciting Games after the Covid-affected Olympics in Tokyo.
“It should be back to normal as far as spectators, entertainment and global broadcasting go,” she says. “And it’s going to look spectacular with the backdrops of the Eiffel Tower, the Seine and Notre-Dame. It’s the City of Love, so we’ll see the romantic side of the Olympics. I think there’ll be many beautiful stories to be told throughout these Games.”
Valerie hopes some of those fairytales will come from Aotearoa’s large track and field team – athletes like 100m sprinter Zoe Hobbs, pole vaulter Eliza McCartney and javelin thrower Tori Peeters.
“There’s lots of pressure and expectation on this team, but we always punch above our weight,” she says. “But regardless of the results, we as spectators need to be kind to our athletes. They’re putting their bodies on the line for the sake of the nation. Whatever the outcome, celebrate with them and think twice before you comment or judge. I’ve been in the firing line multiple times. It’s never through lack of trying. It’s just the nature of the beast – it’s sport.”
Words of wisdom
There’s a piece of sage advice that was given to Valerie by a former All Whites footballer that she savours. Dr Ceri Evans, who’s now a psychiatrist helping people perform under pressure, once told the shot-put star, “You’ve got to be comfortable being uncomfortable.”
Valerie explains, “When you navigate through spaces you’re completely unfamiliar with, all of a sudden, you find yourself in a position where you’re very uncomfortable because it’s not what you’ve trained to do.”
It’s a position she’s found herself in several times since retiring from sport. When she first had to make a presentation to the World Athletics council and when she had her induction as a director on the board of High Performance Sport New Zealand.
“When I first got asked a question, I got a really sick feeling and my stomach felt really tight,” recalls Valerie. “But I’m cool with it now and I love all those moments.”
Valerie was “super-reluctant” to take on the role with HPSNZ, despite the encouragement of Sport New Zealand’s CEO Raelene Castle.
“I was like, ‘Nah, I’m not good enough. What am I going to add?’ I thought it was way out of my reach. But I had a little kōrero [conversation]with myself, and I realised I have experience and that I’d be fine.
“At board meetings, I still sit there, listen and observe. But I feel like I’m engaging more. I am very grateful to Raelene for her belief and her persistence.”
Valerie is proud of the changes that have been made at World Athletics in the past five years, since she took on the role of deputy chair of the Athletes’ Commission, which advocates for the rights and interests of track and field athletes around the world. Her greatest achievements so far, she says, have been setting up athletes’ commissions in Aotearoa and Oceania, creating safe spaces for sportspeople.
“For a very long time, there were no safe spaces and athletes never had the courage to speak up on certain issues,” she says. “If you want to give the sport a chance to grow, the athletes need to feel safe and feel heard. They don’t need to be told what to do – we need to work with them to make things happen. I’m super-passionate and I’m here to make change.”
Valerie’s influence spreads much wider than sport these days. In the past month, she’s been talking to farmers at Fieldays in Hamilton with Toyota, travelled to Sydney for a day with Visa, spoken to NZ Māori Tourism in Taupō, shot content with online medical service Tend, and planted trees at Shakespear Regional Park in Whangaparāoa with AIA and Trees That Count.
She also visited the Kidz First Children’s Hospital in South Auckland, giving pyjamas to kids through the Jammies for June campaign. And she was at a fundraising event for Game Plan AKL, an Aktive Auckland initiative to help struggling families by giving their high-school children grants that allow them to play sport, dance or do martial arts.
“I know the impact of not having enough money to pay for sports fees or for shoes. It’s life-changing for these kids,” tells Valerie. She adds that while her sponsors and ambassadorships are important in her life, her own children are her number-one priority.
“My life is very complex at the moment. I have my work, but I also have my two babies with their school and their sport. It’s a bizarre life, but it’s great. It just keeps moving.”
The family has an au pair, Maddi, living with them to help with the daily rush. She’s become part of the whānau – and a master at braiding the kids’ hair before school.
“Life got a little difficult with my marriage separation and the three of us had to find a new normal,” Valerie says. “It isn’t always easy, but we’ve found our groove. Both children are super-resilient. They’re growing, they’re gorgeous and they have their own lives. Now they’re at school together, it makes our lives easier.”
Valerie is introducing her kids to an assortment of activities. “It’s not about pushing them into something – it’s giving them the opportunity to try different things and see what they like doing.”
They did athletics in summer and have swimming lessons on Mondays.
“Swimming has been great for Kimoana and her autism. She loves the water and we have a pool at home, so she can swim for hours in her own little world.”
Specialists diagnosed Kimoana with autism spectrum disorder in 2021. Valerie says, “She’s done gymnastics and hip-hop to help her with her sensory needs. She loves dance, acting and dressing up, so she might try ballet next. Kimoana likes to follow the rules, while Tava is a rule breaker.”
Tava is playing ripper rugby this winter. “The first day, he was just chasing birds, but he looked so cute doing it! By his fifth game, he got player of the day. He needs something to exert his energy on – he has so much of it! But it’s awesome that everyone has their own schedules and we navigate through them together. My motto is that we work as a team.”
After recent trips to Japan and India, and with Paris coming up, Valerie’s thankful technology keeps her in touch with her family.
“Wherever I am in the world, I’m able to see what’s happening with my son’s blood-glucose levels. I can also video-call my babies morning and nighttime. But it definitely takes a village to raise these children and now my village looks a little different. Everybody is there for the babies, and as long as they’re happy and smiling, we’re good.”
Her village includes aunties and uncles, plus Valerie’s older sister Paddy and her kids. But Valerie is ensuring she’s taking care of herself too. She’s still exercising four or five days a week, for both her body and her mind. “Sickness hasn’t caught up to me for two years,” she smiles. “I chug back probiotics, deer velvet and green powder. I can’t afford to get sick. If I fall, the team falls.”
Mentally, she’s much better at dealing with “uncomfortable situations”. She says, “I try to be less reactive and more like, ‘What’s the solution?’ Before, when everything was heightened, I’d react, which is energy-sapping. Now I have a few more tools on board.”
And Valerie’s also embracing her new body. After years of baggy sweatshirts and slides, she now loves to wear frocks and tailored suits. “I’m absolutely embracing fashion!”
She recently started a conversation with Kiwi designer Karen Walker. Karen’s also an ambassador for Toyota, and they got talking about suits.
“I want to feel like a boss when I turn up to council meetings or corporate functions,” enthuses Valerie. “But I’m such a tall person, it’s very hard to buy something off the rack and I just didn’t know where to start.
“Karen told me to come by, and she and her team made me two custom pairs of pants and a jacket. The whole experience was amazing. I would never have bought those pants if I’d seen them in a store. I thought I’d look like a sack of potatoes in them. But you have to trust someone’s art – that’s what they’re good at.”
Since becoming a dame in the 2017 New Year’s Honours, Valerie hopes she’s used her status for good.
“I’m very honoured to have this title – it’s an opportunity to break the bias. I was the youngest woman in New Zealand to be given a damehood and it’s showing young Polynesian women that you can have a damehood too, if you work your arse off and give back.
“For a woman like me, it’s wonderful, but I’m always thinking, ‘What impact can it have on the future?’ And if it helps bring more attention to other things we’re doing, then I’m absolutely here for it.”
Valerie doesn’t believe the honour has changed who she is.
“I was always going to give back,” she says. “It’s always been in my nature to do this. I’ve been so grateful over the years for people doing something for me – whether it was giving me my first pair of Nike shoes, letting me stay with them while I competed or giving me $20 to jump on the train. That and the not-so-easy upbringing I had means I always want to try to make life a little easier for others.”
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