Sport
One to watch
by Joseph Romanos
Auckland shot-putter Valerie Vili is tipped to shine at the world track and field championships this week.
Although she’s an imposing 1.93m and 123kg, Valerie Vili remains one of New Zealand sport’s unsung achievers. That might change after the world track and field championships, which begin in Helsinki this week.
The Auckland shot-putter has been hot property on the international circuit this season. At last year’s Athens Olympics, Vili finished eighth with a put of 18.56m. This year she has been putting well over 19m, which moves her into pretty exclusive territory.
Just the other day, Vili smashed her personal best in Ferrol, Spain. Vili was out to 19.73m, a 21cm improvement on the national record she set in Rio de Janeiro in May. It was Vili’s misfortune that, because the Spanish meet was a regional championship, it did not count for record purposes.
That disappointment might be soon forgotten, because Vili is tipped to shine in Helsinki. New Zealand have well-performed athletes competing there, including 1500m man Nick Willis, former world discus champion Beatrice Faumuina and 5000m star Kimberley Smith. But Vili is the one to watch.
Amazingly, though she is ranked fourth in the world, she is just 20. No other shot-putter among the world’s top 16 is as young. Vili’s rate of progress has been extraordinary and shows no signs of slowing.
She won the world youth title at Debrecen, Hungary in 2001. A year later she won the more important world junior title in Kingston, although she was just 17 and competing against athletes three years older.
A silver medal in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and a fifth at the 2003 world champs in Paris confirmed she was already among the big-time shot-putters.
Until Vili, Val Young was New Zealand’s greatest shot-putter. She won an amazing 17 national titles from 1956 to ’81, and for decades her national record of 17.26m (set when finishing fourth at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics) was -unchallenged.
But Vili overtook it in 2002 and now throws 17.50m in her warm-ups.
The authoritative Athletics Annual 2005 ranked Vili 10th last year. The distances she’s achieving now would have won her the gold medal at Athens.
Faumuina gave New Zealand a golden moment when she won a world title in 1997. Is it too much to expect her friend Vili, so well coached by Kirsten Hellier, to make it a double?
It’s fashionable to label the Warriors “erratic” and “under-achieving”. But they’ve had a strong season under coach Tony Kemp and the best might be yet to come.
The way the Warriors outplayed the Canberra Raiders at home to keep their championship hopes alive could hardly have been more impressive. Stacey Jones is always a danger, and Lance Hohaia brings the same kicking and running skills to the team. But it’s the Warriors’ big men – players like Ruben Wiki, Steve Price, Karl Temata, Iafeta Paleaaesina, Awen Guttenbeil and Richard Villisanti – who make the Warriors so imposing.
The Warriors haven’t had the rub of the green this season. Some close calls have gone against them and they’ve lost games in the final moments. They’re going to be hard-pushed to make the play-offs, but if they do, watch out. Some of the early season front-runners are starting to look a bit ragged about the edges and the Warriors are coming on strong.
What a disappointment Justin Marshall (Hodder Moa, $49.99) is. Author Angus Gillies has again done a good job in portraying his subject accurately. But the picture Marshall presents is particularly unattractive. He comes across as spoilt, sulky, churlish and childish.
Anyone who crossed him during his career cops it. Therefore John Hart, who dropped him before the 1999 World Cup semi-final, is hammered repeatedly. On the other hand, Laurie Mains, who first picked him for the All Blacks, and John Mitchell, who went with Marshall for the 2003 World Cup, are brilliant -selectors.
For such a long book, there’s minimal analysis of other players. There’s a good technical look at Reuben Thorne’s play, but that’s about it. Byron Kelleher, George Gregan, Andrew Mehrtens, Carlos Spencer, Stephen Larkham … you’d have thought Marshall might have interesting comments to make about their play, but there’s virtually nothing.
Marshall seems utterly self-absorbed. He has been a terrific halfback, but after reading this book, I can understand why coaches were reluctant to entrust him with the leadership, even when he had the experience, and why Graham Henry was happy to move on from the Marshall era.
A more enjoyable book is Phil Tresidder on Golf (Allen & Unwin, $24.95). Tresidder was one of the best Australian sports writers. He died in 2003, aged 75, and this book contains some of his writing on golf, his favourite sport.
They’re all there – Australians Norman von Nida, Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle and Greg Norman, and other stars such as Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Quality reading is guaranteed.
Without meaning to trivialise the book, let me recount one story that made me smile. It’s about Craig, a young Australian professional about to play a solo practice round on the Condobolin course before a tournament. Craig was approached by an attractive woman who asked if she could accompany him on the round.
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