Olympic gold medallist Valerie Adams to visit Tonga Featured
Valerie Adams with her Gold Medal
28 October, 2016. Two-time Olympic gold medallist Valerie Adams will visit Nuku’alofa next week to promote healthy lifestyles and sports participation in Tonga.
The shot put champion will conduct coaching clinics with up-and-coming athletes, speak with elite athletes, visit New Zealand-funded projects including the Just Play football programme and Pacific Science for Health Literacy project, and take part in community events.
The public are invited to observe the following events:
- Just Play Festival at 3pm on Monday 31 October at Veitongo football field
- A coaching clinic at 9.30am on Tuesday 1 November at Teufaiva Stadium for up-and-coming school athletes.
“Both New Zealand and Tonga celebrate Valerie Adams’ sporting success. She is a New Zealander with family ties to Tonga and is a great role model for all of us. Her visit to Tonga will help promote healthy eating and an active lifestyle for youth and community more broadly. She will also be an inspiration for high performance and up-and-coming athletes, supporting them to go to next level of competition,” said New Zealand High Commissioner, HE Sarah Walsh.
The visit follows the announcement by New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully of Adams’ appointment to the role of Pacific Sports Ambassador. Adams’ appointment follows several years of New Zealand’s active involvement in the sports sector in Pacific countries through the New Zealand Aid Programme.
Adams has strong connections to Tonga through her Tongan heritage and her visit highlights the strong people-to-people links between New Zealand and the Kingdom of Tonga.
