Athletics: Adams helps make history at cradle of sport

By CHRIS BARCLAY in Athens

She stalked, bounced, squatted and scowled. Then Valerie Adams wound up with a grunt to deliver her indelible blow for equality at the sacred birthplace of the Olympic Games.

One of the most enduring bastions of male chauvinism crumbled last night as women finally took pride of place on the dirt and pebbles of the ancient running track at Olympia.

The 19-year-old New Zealander and 37 other lycra-clad shot-putters were a canvas of concentration as they marched from a sanctuary through a stone archway.

Women were barred from competing when the Olympics were first held in 776BC.

Last night, the imbalance was addressed in solemn style, as sport returned to Olympia for the first time since 393BC.

A moment's silence was observed before the female athletes were accorded first use of two concrete throwing circles which were set in stone only yesterday.

At last it was the men who had to wait in the wings.

American Kristen Heaton's name will be etched in modern Games history as the first woman to officially compete at the cradle of the Olympic movement. Perhaps overawed by the occasion, she threw a meagre 16.41m.

Minutes later, on the neighbouring circle, Adams became the first thrower to qualify automatically for the final.

With the encouragement of team members ringing in her ears, the South Aucklander threw comfortably past the qualifying distance of 18.50m.

Adams, whose best is 18.96m, exceeded the blue tape by 29cm and qualified fifth - the same spot she occupied at the final of the world championships in Paris last year.

Belorussian Nadezhda Ostapchuk, ranked third in the world, also needed only one of her regulation three throws to make the final with a best of 19.69m.

Irina Korzhanenko, Russia's world No 2, was next with a first-up effort of 19.43m.

Rising at 5.30am in readiness for her moment of Olympic history, Adams was a bundle of nerves before she was able to release months of pent-up tension with an impressive throw..

Ignoring her fellow competitors, she was the first woman to step on the disc, only to be shooed away by an official.

Earlier Waikato women's double trap shooter Nadine Stanton blasted her way into the finals, only to falter when failures with target gear seemed to upset her concentration. She finished sixth.

And after a string of top results on the rowing course yesterday New Zealand will take a five-pronged fleet into the finals this weekend.

All four New Zealand crews in action yesterday did enough to qualify by finishing in the top half of the field to join double sculling gold medal favourites Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell in Saturday's finals.

Medals are within reach for all five crews - the men's and women's pairs, coxless men's four and women's single sculler Sonia Waddell - if they can peak for what could be one of the great days in New Zealand sport.

- NZPA