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It would be preferable to just bask in the glow of another world-beating performance from Valerie Vili today before introducing the inevitable query: when on earth is this wonderful New Zealander going to be compensated adequately for her feats?
But the more this towering athlete conquers the global peaks, the more it highlights the bizarre situation she finds herself in.
She is that rare bird indeed – a New Zealand world champion in a truly global sport.
If our top All Blacks are able to command salaries approaching $1 million annually and our leading sailors also showered in cash as they sell themselves to the highest bidders around the globe, surely it’s time something was done to feather the nest of this Kiwi great. And surely she is now worth her weight in gold. These now sit alongside her Olympic gold from Beijing and make her our most accomplished contemporary sports person.
I raise the point not to deflect from Vili’s latest accomplishment in the early hours of earlier today – a second straight gold medal in the shot put at the world championships in Berlin. Forget Brendon and Jesse.
Forget Richie and Dan.
Valerie Vili is right now as good as it gets. Forget even Hayden and Julian.
Fat chance. And every Kiwi should be puffing their chests out with pride over the way she’s able to consistently rise above the challenges of a gaggle of Europeans desperate to dethrone her. Sent shivers down my spine, I tell you, sitting in the stands that steamy night in China.
This time she didn’t even destroy them with her opening throw, as she did in Beijing. She owned them, and made it more than clear. She strode out and crushed the life out of the field that evening, effectively ending the event before it had begun. But that just made it even more impressive as she responded brilliantly.
This time she was a little less imperious early on and had to come from behind after a couple of shaky efforts. Magnificent. Pressure? Schmessure!
Majestic, it was. Money. And let me add a third ‘M’ when it comes to Ms V for Victory. Believe it or not that’s a pay-rise of $20,000 on what she received prior to this year.
Right now she’s paid $60,000 a year for her troubles courtesy of high performance sport’s central funding body Sparc. Grossly disproportionate to her achievements. Grossly disproportionate to her achievements. And, frankly, a little embarrassing.
If she was American or British she’d have cash, cars and fabulous watches thrown at her as she was paraded around as the conqueror of the world she is.
Her crime is to be a New Zealander. .