Beatrice Roini Liua Faumuina (born 23 October 1974 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand discus thrower.

Career

Faumuina was a gold medallist at the

1997 World Championships in Athletics The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 19 ...

. She has represented New Zealand in four Summer Olympics. After winning the discus event at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

she was featured on a stamp from

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. She is currently New Zealand's Trade Commissioner and Consul General, New York. At the 2004 Summer Olympics she placed 7th in the discus with a throw of 64.45 metres. Early in her career, she was coached by

Les Mills Leslie Roy Mills (born 1 November 1934) is a retired New Zealand track and field athlete and politician. He represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games over two decades, competing in the shot put and discus throw. He w ...

, discus gold medallist at the 1966 Commonwealth Games. In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, Faumuina was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to athletics. On 16 October 2005, she was nominated

Goodwill Ambassador Goodwill ambassador is a post-nominal honorific title, a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation that is assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a publ ...

of the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

of the United Nations (FAO). In 2006, she appeared in the New Zealand version of the television series '' Dancing with the Stars'' where she was placed second. Since 2006 she has been a presenter on the

Television New Zealand , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the Solo ...

Pacific Islands current events programme Tagata Pasifika. She also attended Lynfield College. In 2007, Beatrice decided to focus on athletics and based herself in Australia for the majority of the year before competing in Osaka, Japan. She returned to good form after a disappointing injury plagued her 2006 season, placing her 4th at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. She threw 62.2 metres at a meet in Christchurch, beating rival

Dani Samuels Dani Stevens (née Samuels, born 26 May 1988) is a retired Australian discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event. She is the current national and Oceanian record holder. Stevens qualified for the 2020 ...

from Australia. This followed a winning throw of 62.08 throw at a meet in Canberra. She placed 28th in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing with a throw of 57.18m, failing to qualify for the final. Her comments to media following her elimination were widely criticized after it was perceived that she was satisfied with what many viewed as a sub-standard performance. Faumuina finished seventh in the 2009 Reebok Grand Prix in New York, with a throw of 56.73 metres. She was expected to compete in the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the University ...

meet in Oregon, in order to throw the qualifying standard for the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

in Berlin. However, she did not attend the meeting and her coach stated that she had decided to focus on her upcoming Bachelor of Business Studies exams instead. Faumuina has retired from discus throwing.

Achievements

References

External links