New Zealand's shot put legend Dame Valerie Adams has been appointed as the World Athletics ambassador for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26, scheduled for March 20-22 in Poland. The 41-year-old, who secured her last world indoor title in Sopot in 2014, is eager to return to the country as a spectator and engage with athletes and fans. Adams brings a storied career, including four indoor world titles and two Olympic golds, to her new role.
Dame Valerie Adams, a towering figure in shot put, has been named the World Athletics ambassador for the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26. The event, set for March 20-22, marks a return to Poland for Adams, where she claimed her fourth and final indoor world title in Sopot in 2014 with a throw of 20.67m—a world lead at the time.
Adams's career spans over two decades, highlighted by eight world championships, four of them indoors. She debuted at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest in 2004 as a 19-year-old. Her first indoor gold came in Valencia in 2008, followed by victories in Doha in 2010 and Istanbul in 2012. She also earned bronze in Portland in 2016. Outdoors, Adams made history as the first woman to win four consecutive world titles, in Osaka (2007), Berlin (2009), Daegu (2011), and Moscow (2013).
At the Olympics, Adams achieved consecutive golds in Beijing (2008) and London (2012), then added silver in Rio (2016) and bronze in Tokyo (2021), becoming the first woman to win four medals in a single field event. She holds the Oceanian records with 21.24m outdoors and 20.98m indoors.
Reflecting on her Sopot triumph, Adams said, “As soon as the shot left my hand on the fifth-round throw, I knew it was big and I knew it was strong. I felt so powerful coming off the back of the circle and the roar at the end, you knew that it was going to be dominating.” She also recalled fellow New Zealander Tom Walsh's bronze medal there as a fond memory.
“I am super pumped to be back in Poland where I won my 2014 world indoor title, to be among the crowd and to experience the competition from a spectator’s point of view,” Adams stated. “Being an ambassador for this wonderful event is very humbling. I am also very excited to be able to engage with the athletes and with the crowd, to experience a championships like no other.”
Beyond competing, Adams remains active in athletics governance. In 2019, as World Athletics Athletes' Commission Deputy Chair, she and Renaud Lavillenie became the first active athletes to join the World Athletics Council as full voting members. She has served as Chair of the Athletes' Commission since 2023. Adams was named World Athlete of the Year in 2014.
