Loving what you do is half the battle, Dame Valerie tells Tongan youth

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Finding something they loved doing was half the  battle, Olympic  gold medallist Dame Valerie Adams told the Youth Excellence awards dinner at Ellerslie last night.

“If you don’t love it, change,” she said.

Adams was guest speaker at the event, which was hosted by the Tongan Youth Trust.

The Olympic gold medallist told the audience that her mother’s death was the turning point of her life.

She said she was watching the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in the hospice where her mother, Lilika Ngauamo, died of cancer.

She said her life could have gone either at that point, but she chose to focus on her goal of one day being at the Olympics opening ceremony.

Adams recalled growing up in South Auckland in a family where the income was about $40 a week, but said there was always a lot of love in the house.

She said she was proud of her Tongan heritage and language.

Adams was appointed a Dame in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List.

She also serves as New Zealand’s first sports ambassador, in which role she has toured the Pacific promoting healthy living among young people.

Apart from her Olympic achievements, she has won medals at the Commonwealth games, holds several international titles and is one of only nine athletes to have won at youth, junior and senior level in an athletic event.

She was appointed by Lord Vaea of Houma with the hingoa matapule (herald name) Tongitupe-He-Funga-Taua. It is believed she was the first Tongan woman to be appointed to the cultural position.

The main points

  • Finding something they loved doing was half the battle, Olympic  gold medallist Dame Valerie Adams told the Youth Excellence awards dinner at Ellerslie last night.
  • “If you don’t love it, change,” she said.
  • Adams was guest speaker at the event, which was hosted by the Tongan Youth Trust.
  • Adams was appointed a Dame in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List and also serves as New Zealand’s first sports ambassador

For more information

Valerie Adams at Tongan Youth Excellence Awards

International Athletic Federation

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