Vili The Repeat Winner Of Supreme Crown

Media Release

03 February 2009

Valerie Vili The Repeat Winner Of Supreme Crown At 2008 Westpac Halberg Awards

Olympic women’s shot put champion, Valerie Vili, has captured New Zealand’s ultimate sporting prize - the Halberg Award - for the second consecutive year.

The 24-year-old athlete emerged as the big winner at the 2008 Westpac Halberg Awards dinner in Auckland tonight, repeating her performance of last year by winning the Westpac Sportswoman of the Year category and then claiming the supreme Halberg Award. In so doing she became only the third female to capture the big prize in the 60-year history of the awards, first won by cricketer Bert Sutcliffe in 1949.

Vili followed in the footsteps of fellow athlete Yvette Williams (1950 & 52) and lightweight rower Phillipa Baker (1989 & 94) as the only other women to win two Halberg Awards, and the first to score back-to-back wins. She also became the 10th dual winner of the Halberg Award, and the first since rower Rob Waddell, the only three-time winner (1998, 99 & 2000). The other category winners she headed off for the supreme award at the Vector Arena were Indy 500 champion Scott Dixon (Westpac Sportsman of the Year) and double-scull repeat Olympic gold medal pair, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell (Westpac Sports Team of the Year).

The awards, hosted each year at a glittering dinner organised by the Halberg Trust, recognise outstanding achievement by New Zealand sports men, women, teams and coaches over the previous 12 months. Unable to make last year’s dinner in Christchurch, as she was competing in Auckland on the night of the awards, this year Valerie was presented with the magnificent silver trophy by Olympic rowing single scull bronze medal winner, Mahe Drysdale, the 2006 Halberg Award winner.

For Vili 2008 was a year of total domination. She won every international competition she contested, and her first throw in the Olympic final of 20.56m, was a Commonwealth Games and NZ record throw. It also completed a clean sweep of every major title available to her - Olympic, world indoor and outdoor, World Cup and Commonwealth Games. The other finalists in the Westpac Sportswoman of the Year category were Sophie Pascoe (swimming), Val Smith (bowls) and Samantha Warriner (triathlon).

In the Westpac Sportsman of the Year category, won by Dixon, the other finalists were Olympic board sailing winner Tom Ashley, Beijing individual pursuit silver medallist Hayden Roulston, US Amateur Golf Champion Danny Lee and 1500m Olympic bronze medal winner Nick Willis. Dixon was not able to be at the dinner but spoke by satellite from Indianapolis.

The Team category was won by Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell ahead of the Rugby League World Cup winning Kiwis, the All Blacks and the men’s team pursuit cycling quartet from Beijing, which won a bronze medal.

In the Westpac Emerging Talent category, which provides a $25,000 scholarship from Westpac Bank, the winner was 18-year-old Winter X Games free-skiing medal prospect Jossi Wells. The other finalists were Chris Rahardja (karate), Paige Hareb (surfing) and Graham 0berlin-Brown (rowing).

Vili’s coach, Kirsten Hellier, completed a double when she won the SPARC Coach of the Year category. The other finalists in this distinguished group were Dick Tonks (rowing) and Grant Beck (board sailing) who coached Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell and Tom Ashley to their Olympic gold medals and Stephen Kearney, the successful Kiwis coach.

The 2008 Westpac Halberg Awards marked 40 years since the Eagles Golfing Society of New Zealand began their support of the Halberg Trust nationally. They presented the Trust with a cheque for $157,342.90 which took their support since 1969 to more than $3.5million.

The dinner again inducted two former New Zealand sporting champions into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. They were Anne Audain, Commonwealth Games middle distance gold and silver medallist during the 1980s and squash ace Ross Norman, who won the 1986 World Cup Squash Title with a stunning four-set victory over then world champion Jahangir Khan, unbeaten for more than five years.

The recipients of two other special awards, which have become regular features at the dinner, were very warmly received. Ron Shakespeare (91), a long-time New Zealand swimming and Olympic administrator, who was manager of the NZ Commonwealth Games team at Jamaica in 1966, was presented with the Lion Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. This is a Halberg Trust initiative which recognises those who have made a substantial contribution to sport. Former NZ squash representative Susie Simcock, president of the World Squash Federation since 1996 and National Olympic Committee Board member for more than 20 years, was presented with the SPARC Leadership Award by SPARC Chief Executive Peter Miskimmin.

Voting for the 2008 Westpac Halberg Awards was carried out by an academy of sporting journalists and former sporting greats. The 2008 finalists and winners are listed below:

2008 Halberg Award: Valerie Vili (athletics)

Scott Dixon (Westpac Sportsman of the Year)

Valerie Vili (Westpac Sportswoman of the Year)

Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell (Westpac Sports Team of the Year)

Westpac Sportsman of the Year: Scott Dixon (motor sport)

Tom Ashley (board sailing) Scott Dixon (motor sport) Hayden Roulston (cycling)

Danny Lee (golf) Nick Willis (athletics)

Westpac Sportswoman of the Year: Valerie Vili (athletics)

Sophie Pascoe (swimming) Val Smith (bowls)

Valerie Vili (athletics) Samantha Warriner (triathlon)

Westpac Sports Team of the Year: Women’s Double Scull (rowing)

Women’s Double Scull (rowing) Kiwis (rugby league)

All Blacks (rugby) Men’s Team Pursuit (cycling)

SPARC Coach of the Year: Kirsten Hellier (athletics)

Grant Beck (board sailing) Kirsten Hellier (athletics)

Stephen Kearney (rugby league) Richard Tonks (rowing)

Westpac Emerging Talent Award: Jossi Wells (skiing)

Paige Hareb (surfing) Graham Oberlin-Brown (rowing)

Jossi Wells (skiing) Christopher Rahardja (karate)

ENDS

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