"I just burst into tears," Adams said early today.
She was driving to coach Jean-Pierre Egger's house in Switzerland when she heard the news she was again the Olympic champion.
"I fell into JP's arms and we shared the moment. It's a lot for me to take in at the moment."
The dramatic development occurred just hours after the curtain came down on the 30th Olympiad in London.
Ostapchuk tested positive test for metenolone, an anabolic agent.
The result means the 27-year-old Adams has won gold at successive Olympics, and her medal takes the New Zealand gold tally to six from London.
On Tuesday morning, she finished second behind Ostapchuk, her throw of 20.7m well behind the Belarusian's 21.36m.
Of her rival, Adams said she was "history". "My feeling is I don't want to waste any energy on her. I just want to enjoy the moment."
Sport New Zealand will consider organising a ceremony to celebrate Valerie Adams' second consecutive Olympic gold medal, and to try to ease her disappointment at missing out on the gold medal ceremony in London.
Sport NZ chief executive Peter Miskimmin said today he is sure a lot of people in New Zealand would want to give Adams that moment she deserves as a true champion.
"Clearly there will need to be some sort of recognition for that fantastic achievement," he told Radio New Zealand today.
"So I guess we just need to think through what that would be, but yes, it would be nice to have some symbolic occasion where we can actually recognise the fact that she is the gold medallist again, and backed up from that gold medal in Beijing."
There are two urine samples taken at the time of testing, and Mr Miskimmin accepted that Ostapchuk may ask for the second sample to be tested as part of her appeal against the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA's) finding.
"Typically, your B one [sample] doesn't normally change from the A one."
Mr Miskimmin believes that by coming out and saying what they have, WADA clearly has confidence in its methods.
"It just goes to show that if people do want to flaunt, if they do want to cheat, they're going to get found out and they get caught, which is obviously fantastic.
Adams said she had noticed the extraordinary throws Ostapchuk had thrown before the Olympics, "but I never wanted to assume. Other people have made comments about how she looks and how she throws".
The New Zealander hit out at Ostapchuk's unveiling as a drugs cheat. "It is also encouraging for those athletes like myself who are proud to compete cleanly that the system works and doping cheats are caught."
Adams admitted she felt robbed by the fact that the people she cares about did not get the chance to see her on the top step of the podium and hear the New Zealand anthem.
Her Olympic campaign was clouded by an administrative error that saw her name missing from the official start list. Only an 11th-hour intervention by the NZ Olympic Committee and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) enabled Adams to attempt to defend the title she won in Beijing.
Adams said the bungle messed with her head and she threw poorly during the final.
Intriguingly, Egger offered an enigmatic appraisal of Ostapchuk's performance, saying he "would prefer to remain silent".
The implication was that something was amiss about the Belarusian's rapid improvement. It was the first time she had beaten Adams in nearly two years.
Ostapchuk, 31, was first tested by urine sample the day before competition and again straight after the final. Both samples showed up the presence of metenolone.
The drug is a long-acting anabolic steroid, which boosts cellular tissue in muscles and stimulates male characteristics. It is taken orally or through injection.
Late last night, the Wikipedia entry for the drug was already saying it was the preferred anabolic of Nadzeya Ostapchuk.
Brett Addison, sport manager at Athletics New Zealand, said the gold medal was fantastic news for Adams and justification of her rating as the top shot-putter in the world.
He said Ostapchuk's vast improvement from last June, when Adams beat her by more than one metre, had raised some questions.
"She went back to Belarus and had some amazing throws, so there were some questions raised then. But unless an athlete tests positive you can't really say anything."
New Zealand Olympic Committee Secretary General Kereyn Smith said Adams' honour was well deserved. She added that New Zealand athletes were proud to compete cleanly on the world's stage.
The chef de mission of the New Zealand team, Dave Currie, said the news was wonderful and he was very proud of Adams.
The IOC Disciplinary Commission disqualified Ostapchuk, withdrew her medal and asked the IAAF to change the result.
The silver medal now goes to Russian Evgeniia Kolodko and the bronze to Lijiao Gong of China.
During the Games, the IOC carried out tests on the top five finishers in each event, plus two others at random. Around 3800 urine and 1200 blood samples were taken.
Nine athletes returned positive tests, but only Ostapchuk has been stripped of a medal.
NZ medal tally
Six gold
Two silver
Five bronze
15th overall on table
- Andrew Alderson, David Leggat and Dylan Cleaver/additional reporting Harry Pearl
