Olympics: Vili and Willis ice athletics' Olympic cake

Outside the obvious -- gold to shot putter Valerie Vili and bronze for 1500m runner Nick Willis -- there was still plenty to be positive about for athletics from the Beijing Olympics.

Almost nothing could compare to Vili, who physically and mentally dominated her opposition by throwing the winning 20.56m in her first round then never threw under 20 metres in her entire five-throw series.

She won by almost 30cm from Natallia Mikhnevich (Belarus), with another Belarussian, Nadzeya Ostapchuk, third on 19.86. Both women had thrown further than Vili leading into the Olympics, but the 1.94m tall New Zealander showed impressive focus to secure her first Olympic gold.

"I wanted to put out the biggest throw in the first round and obviously it worked, because then the pressure was right on them to try and kick my butt, which they didn't do," she said.

Vili's win gives her a complete set of golds over the last five years -- world youth, world junior, Commonwealth Games, world championship and Olympic.

Willis' medal was won in almost the opposite fashion -- instead of dominating from the front, the United States-based Wellingtonian displayed supernatural patience and composure to time his bronze medal run to perfection.

Willis came off his favoured pole position and found the speed to reel in the field over the last 200m, holding off fast-finishing Frenchman Mehdi Baala in a last desperate dash to the line.

At that stage of the race, Willis said, it was something more than sheer strength that got him through to the line.

"I don't know if it was in my legs -- it was in my soul."

Willis' bronze is a classy addition to the Commonwealth Games gold he won two years ago in Melbourne, and was the first Olympic track medal since John Walker won gold at the 1976 Montreal Games.

But after the two standard-bearers, there were still some encouraging performances from the 10-strong athletics squad.

New national chairman of selectors Tony Rogers, manager of the athletics team in Athens four years ago and 1500m finalist at Los Angeles in 1984, pinpointed 10,000m runner Kimberley Smith's effort as particularly noteworthy.

Smith was bitterly disappointed with her ninth place in a race she had quietly targeted a bronze medal. Ethiopian Dibaba Tirunesh won in an Olympic record 29min 54.66sec, while Smith clocked 30:51, well over a minute faster than she ran in finishing fifth at the world championships in Osaka last year.

"I was really impressed with Kimberley Smith's effort," Rogers told NZPA.

"She's had a great year, and outside Val she's probably the most outstanding female athlete. She's got to keep believing that her time is going to come.

"Ninth would have been hard to swallow, but she ran that race much better than the world championships. Her's was a very courageous performance and it wouldn't have taken much for her to be up in the medals as well."

Nina Rillstone's effort in finishing 16th in the women's marathon was also a solid performance, Rogers said, and late inclusion Liza Hunter-Galvin had also run above her ranking. The race was won by Constantina Romescu of Romania in 2hr 26min 44sec, while Rillstone clocked 2:31.16.

Hunter-Galvin, ranked 57th going into the event, finished 35th in 2:34.51.

Rogers said there would be a few athletes who would return home disappointed -- "one who comes to mind first and foremost is Beatrice (Faumuina)".

Disc thrower Faumuina finished 28th out of 38, with a dismal 57.15m.

Javelin thrower Stuart Farquhar, who battled heavy rain and a slippery runway to finish 20th out of 38 throwers with 76.14m, and 5000m runner Adrian Blincoe, who clocked 13min 55.02sec to finish seventh in his heat would also be less than happy, he said.

"From an athletics point of view, the Games have been pretty successful. Most athletes came up to their expectations," Rogers said.

"There's a lot of experience in that team that's carried on from a very young team in Athens four years ago. That Olympic experience has paid off. This team has been a long time progressing -- it takes six to eight years to get to this level."

Rogers said that background of international and Olympic experience had played a huge part in the Vili and Willis medals.

"Nick's medal is fantastic for young runners coming through, because it's important they believe it's possible to achieve at the Olympics. It's all about confidence and self-belief."