Behind Valerie Vili's quest for shot put gold at the Beijing
Olympics is one of the most hands-off coaches in the
business.
Kirsten Hellier has been working with Vili since she was a
1.96m 13-year-old. But the former national champion javelin
thrower is adamant she doesn't believe in micro-management.
"I see my role as a coach...yes, it's a technical thing as
well, but it's also about teaching who you're working with
the skills to be able to deal with things themselves, and
that is what Val is very good at doing."
So when Vili steps out into the circle at Beijing's National
Stadium on August 16, Hellier will be sitting in the stands
cool, calm and collected as her charge zeroes in on Olympic
gold.
Sort of.
"At the end of the day, she's the one that's out there
competing and I'm the one that's sitting on the sidelines
with a stomach full of butterflies. But I can't do anything -
it's beyond my control," Hellier said.
"She's the one that's in control, and my job is to make sure
that when she gets into that environment she is in control. I
think we've done that pretty well -- she's mastered it."
Hellier has been quietly satisfied with Vili's progress to
date.
"Physically, Val is in the best shape ever, to be honest. But
expectations aren't something we really talk about because
both of us are acutely aware of everybody else's
expectations.
"It's an unspoken rule that we just do what we do and prepare
for the day, and so far we've got the recipe right."
And while there is a huge amount of analysis and technical
work involved in training, once it comes to competition time
there's not a lot of conscious thought going through Vili's
mind.
A great deal of her success is due to Vili's consistently
excellent technique and exceptional mental focus,
particularly when it comes to the big competitions.
Last year, at the world championships in Osaka, Japan, she
won gold with a perfectly executed 20.54m last-round effort.
In March she took gold at the world indoor championships in
Spain, again beating the woman who will be her biggest rival
in Beijing -- Nadezya Ostapchuk, of Belarus.
In 2006, Vili won gold at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games,
and she has also picked up world youth and world junior shot
put titles.
"She's been there before and right from a very young age,
she's got it down pat." Hellier is convinced the world record
of 22.63m, almost certainly set with chemical assistance by
Soviet thrower Natalya Lisovskaya in 1987, is within Vili's
grasp.
"She's probably physically the only woman in the world that
could break that legally, to be honest. "But it all comes
down to what you want out of life. I guess at the end of the
day, there's more to it than throwing a steel ball around."
It is precisely that recognition of a world outside athletics
that is an underpinning strength of Hellier's long-running
relationship as coach, mentor and friend to Vili.
"It's that whole life focus. You don't have to be an elite
athlete to understand that if there's a portion of your life
that's not balanced, it affects the apple cart.
"You've got to have that balance and that's something I've
believed in right from the start, and that we've worked on
right from day one," she said.
That considered, holistic approach to life has supported Vili
through the death of both parents -- her mother in September
2000, and her father in May last year.
"We've been together for 10 years -- she does still surprise
me, and at the risk of sounding like an old married couple,
that's probably what keeps our relationship quite exciting.
"Both of us have changed as people from when we first met,
and that's the way it should be."
