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Geoffery Matautia
Dame Valerie announced her divorce to husband of seven years Gabriel Price in a heartfelt Facebook post of Friday evening.
Dame Valerie Adams has announced she has broken up with her husband of nearly seven years Gabriel Price.
The two-times Olympic shot put champion wrote in a Facebook post that she wanted her supporters and fans to hear the announcement from her personally.
Adams, one of the greats of New Zealand sport, impressed upon her followers that she and Price would remain entirely committed to their children.
“Gabriel and I have separated. While we are no longer together, we both remain entirely committed to our beautiful children.”
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The couple, who married in a Mormon ceremony in Temple View in Hamilton in 2016, have been friends since childhood. They have two children, a girl and boy.
Adams has asked for privacy regarding the decision.
“As with any break-up it can be emotional and difficult, so I do ask that you please respect the privacy of my family during this time.”
Her marriage to Price was her second.
Michael Bradley/Getty Images
Dame Valerie Adams and Gabriel Price at the New Zealand premiere of Disney’s “Moana” in Auckland in 2016.
She wed Bertrand Vili, a discus thrower from New Caledonia in 2004, and they divorced in 2010.
Adams won gold medals at the Beijing and London Olympics and a silver and bronze at the Rio and Tokyo games respectively. She is a four-times world champion in the shot put and three-times Commonwealth Games champion. She also won four world indoor titles.
The Rotorua-born athlete retired from active competition in March last year at the age of 37, but has been coaching her sister Lisa Adams, who won a gold medal in the women’s shot put F37 at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021. NBA basketballer Steven, who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies, is one of their brothers.
When she retired from competition, Adams said: “Representing Aotearoa for the last 22 years has given me so much joy. As my life’s work, I’m humbled to show little New Zealand has what it takes to be the best in the world.
“I have given my heart and soul to this sport, loved and nurtured it from a young age, watched it grow as a girl to now a woman, fully grown. It is beautiful and exciting, at times hard and unforgiving, but always honest, ever-inquiring. To all those who dare lift the shot, I’m looking at you, girl.’’
In the 2017 New Year Honours, Adams was named a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She was appointed to the board of High Performance Sport New Zealand last year.
A documentary film on her childhood and career, Dame Valerie Adams: More than Gold, was a box office hit when released in New Zealand cinemas in October last year.
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