Asian Games: Gold thrusts foreign coach into limelight

Kirsten Hellier. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Kirsten Hellier discovered this week what it is like to have a billion people know your name.

The former coach of Valerie Adams saw her new Chinese athlete throw a huge personal best to win gold at the Asian Games.

Li Ling, who has been in the doldrums for the past couple of years, thrilled the large partisan crowd in Guangzhou with the manner of her performance and afterwards caught the Chinese media offguard with constant praise for and references to her "new foreign coach".

Ling hurled the shot 19.94m on her penultimate throw, obliterating her previous personal best of 19.38m achieved at the 2007 world championships. In the years since then, she had not managed over 19m in competition and her best throw in 2010 had been just over 18m.

The large throng of Chinese media in the tunnel were stunned by the effort and asked her to explain the transformation.

Ling gave most of the credit to her work with the "foreign coach", which left reporters noticeably surprised as all of the official media guides had listed a Chinese official as her coach. Ling then went on to tell the story of Hellier and their work over the past three months.

"I've loved working with her," she said through a translator. "She has changed the way I do things and I have felt much better about my training."

The otherwise excellent interpreter made a couple of clangers, twice referring to Hellier as "he" and saying she was from the Netherlands.

Hellier said Ling benefited from the variety introduced into her programme.

"I try to make every session a little different and she has responded really well. She is like a seed that has finally been watered."

With the revitalisation of Ling in a short space of time, Hellier has cemented her coaching reputation in the best possible arena, giving a boost to an athlete who had been stagnating within the renowned Chinese system.

The result has also provided Hellier with the best possible bargaining chip as she sits down with Chinese officials over the next few weeks to discuss her future involvement in their programme.

She has considered moving to China but does not want to relocate her family and the idea of living in Dalian, a northern city where Ling is based, or Beijing, where the national track and field centre is located, does not appeal.

From Hellier's viewpoint, the ideal situation would be for Ling to be based in New Zealand for extended periods.

Ling admitted she "loved the experience and the training environment" during her six weeks there earlier this year and hopes to return "but that is something the leaders will decide".

* Michael Burgess is in China with the assistance of the Asia New Zealand foundation.