Rotorua's Lisa Adams is a Paralympic gold medal winner. Photo / Getty Images
Rotorua's Lisa Adams is a Paralympic gold medal winner. Photo / Getty Images
Rotorua's Lisa Adams is making a habit of breaking records and bringing home gold medals.
Last night, she won gold in the shot put F37 on her Paralympic Games debut in Tokyo.
Adams got straight down to business, breaking the Paralympic record with her first throw of 14.36m and heading to the top of the field, where she remained for the competition.
Over her next five throws, she bettered the Paralympic record a further three times, with a throw of 15.12m in both rounds five and six her best result, and 1.4m ahead of the silver medallist.
The 30-year-old said winning gold was a dream come true.
"I'm very happy. It's a very euphoric feeling. Happy, relief, proud. Very emotional. It's unreal. It hasn't sunken in yet.
"I am in the best physical form I've been in, but I was having fun. I was smiling, you know my coach told me to just go out here and enjoy it because we had done all the work, and that's what I did, I had a really fun time out there, it was so amazing.
"And the support from my coach and the crowd, and just our little crew that are allowed to be here, it was amazing."
The Kiwi burst into tears when the result was confirmed and, after shooing away the television cameras, raced across the athletics track to receive a big hug from her big sister Valerie.
The triumph took the Adams sisters' gold-medal tally to three and came four weeks after Valerie won Olympic bronze at the same venue.
On the podium, the emotion of her golden moment was clear on Adams' face as the New Zealand anthem played.
"Just reflecting over the last three years of work and choices, sacrifices, setbacks, growth, growth was a biggie.
"Just reflecting on all of that and just actually taking in that moment, we did this, the anthem's playing for us, and just thinking of how proud I am, how much I wanted to do this for me and my son. How special it's been to be on this journey with my sister, just all of it.
"During the playing of our anthem it was just reflecting, and I was so emotional about it, because it's been so special, so hard, so rewarding, but I felt very supported and loved you know, and I was really, really proud to do this for Aotearoa and our little team of five mil.
Lisa Adams of Team New Zealand competes in the Women's Shot Put F37 Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Photo / Getty Images
"It's cool, it's trippy to think that we're here doing the stuff we love during this pandemic, but I'm so grateful that we can do this here as safe as we can. It's mean, it's like a dream come true."
She came into the competition with a personal best almost two metres better than her nearest rival, China's Mi Na, who won silver with a season-best throw of 13.69m.
But Adams - who was diagnosed with left hemiplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, at an early age - could hardly have imagined what was to come when she took up the sport.
Big sister to NBA star Steven, Adams had represented Waikato in able-bodied rugby and played physical disability rugby league with the New Zealand men's nines team in 2018.
It was then she was scouted by coach Raylene Bates, who quickly discovered that Adams had shot put excellence running through her genes.
In 2019, she surpassed the world-record distance at the national championships and then, with her first throw in international competition, broke that record with a throw of 14.70m at the world championships.
Adams twice improved on that mark to claim gold in Dubai and has since proven untouchable, setting the world record of 15.50m in Hastings last September.
All that was left was for Adams to win Paralympic gold, and after her first heave from the circle tonight, that was never in doubt.
Adams will also look for a strong showing in the women's discus, where she will up against throwers in the F38 classification.
Competing alongside Lisa was fellow Kiwi Caitlin Dore. It was the second Paralympic appearance for the Christchurch-based thrower, who competed in the javelin F37 at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games where she placed seventh.
After javelin F37 was taken off the list of guaranteed events for Tokyo 2020 schedule, Dore made the change to shot put.
The 25-year-old Cantabrian said that while she was proud to be in Tokyo, it was not the result she was after with her best throw of 9.03 placing Caitlin eighth.
"Mixed emotions," she said.
"I mean, five years ago I was here as a javelin thrower, so to come back as a shot putter is a massive achievement. Obviously, I wanted more as every athlete does, but just wasn't my day."
