Athletics: Dame Valerie Adams confirms plans for 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo

Dame Valerie Adams. Photo / Photosport

Kiwi shot put star Dame Valerie Adams has confirmed plans to attend her fifth straight Olympic Games, setting her sights on Tokyo 2020.

The three-time Olympic medallist took time away from the sport recently for the birth of her second child, but confirmed to Newstalk ZB she would be pushing to make it to Tokyo.

"I will definitely work my ass off to be in Tokyo; that's the plan," Adams said.

"I have steps that I've got to go to and get passed to get to that stage.

"I've actually got nothing to lose. My plan is to turn up for Tokyo; I am also a realist – I'm going to train and work in the background and get myself up and compete in our season."

Adams finished inside the top 10 in the field at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, before claiming gold in both Beijing and London. In 2016, she claimed the silver medal in Rio de Janeiro.

She had alluded to attempting to compete in Tokyo last year. In October, after announcing she was pregnant with her second child, she said: "The risk of completing our family and training for the Olympics ... I don't want that. First and foremost for me was actually giving Kimoana a sibling and completing a family. For us this is it.

"I don't want to come end of Tokyo, look back and have any regrets.

"I don't want to be one of those should've, would've, could've. I've got the opportunity now, I need to take it. It's the same with sport, if you've got the opportunity, take it."