Women's Shot Put - FINAL

‘One World, One Dream’ is the Beijing Olympic Games slogan but in the context of the women’s Shot Put final this evening, it might as well have been ‘One Girl, One Dream’ come true.

We previewed this event as a simple Valerie Vili vs Belarussia battle and anyone glancing at the results sheet and seeing the New Zealander’s gold medal ahead of silver and bronze for the Belarus pairing of Natallia Mikhnevich and Nadezhda Ostapchuk would assume that had been the case.

The competitive reality was quite different.

The women’s Shot Put final of the Games of the XXIX Olympiad will go down as being a solo demonstration of the ability of 23-year-old who now holds all the major titles open to her – Olympic Games, World outdoor and indoor championships, World Cup and Commonwealth Games - not forgetting that during her rise to become the world’s pre-eminent putter she also won the 2001 Youth and 2002 Junior World titles.

Vili’s last competition prior to these Games had been here in Beijing Bird’s Nest on 23 May when she won the test competition for these Olympics which inaugurated the competition facilities of this new 91,000 seater stadium.

Her test brought her victory with a put of 19.41m, but tonight’s victory series never dipped below 20m, and her opening heave of 20.56 added two centimetres to her Area record. Vili followed with 20.40, 20.26, 20.01, 20.52, with a pass in the sixth round a not unsurprising decision considering that she was by then already the gold medallist.

Aside this parade by Vili, there was a battle of sorts for the minor medals, though Mikhnevich in silver was as secure in some respects as the peerless Vili, thanks to a 20.23 release in the second round and 20.10 effort to finish.

Ostapchuk, the 2005 World champion and this season’s world leader thanks to a 20.97 in Minsk at the end of July, only got into gear with her fifth round effort of 19.86 which she followed with 19.36 in the last round. It was enough for bronze and to bring some respectability for Ostapchuk who had been languishing in seventh place and way out of medal contention before her penultimate attempt.

“To come out on top feels amazing, so freaking amazing. I can’t explain what’s going on through my head right now. I couldn’t have asked for a better day or moment,” said Vili. “I wanted to make an impression on the other throwers and it worked.”

“You never put your guard down with the Belarussians. Coming into this competition, I was ranked number 3. I had to give my all,” concluded Vili.

There will be some celebrating to so for silver medallist Mikhnevich too, as her husband Andrei took bronze in the men’s Shot last night.

Chris Turner for the IAAF