Formerly known as
Valerie Vili,
Adams currently holds the New Zealand, Oceanian, Commonwealth and equal World Championship records with a personal best throw of 21.24 metres.
Adams was born ito a
Tongan mother and an English father. Her father had a total of 18 children with five women and Adams' youngest sibling is NBA player Steven Adams. Two other brothers also played professional basketball in New Zealand.
Adams' training base is in Switzerland and is one of only nine athletes (along with
Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Kirani James, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels, and David Storl) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event. She is the first woman to win four consecutive individual titles at the world track and field championships.
At her 'home' Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, the most dominant athlete in any event in the world and double Olympic Champion tossed the four kilogram steel shot out to 20.42, over three quarters of a metre clear of her closest opponent Lijiao Gong from China. It suggests that Adams' recent left shoulder injury is now under control.
Adams now leads the Diamond League shot put with a maximum 16 points from four competitions, a massive 13 points clear of Carter and Gong. Adams
tweeted, "20.42m 20.42m,x,20.24m Nek minit I broke the stop board.. But 51st win in a row, great competition. Thank u Ed & JP" referencing her chiropractor Ed Timings and coach Jean-Pierre Egger.
World's fastest man, Usain Bolt, also utilizes
chiropractic care to improve his performance
The next Diamond League meet for Adams will be in Monaco on July 18.
