Beatrice Faumuina

Beatrice Faumuina

Personal information
Full name	Beatrice Roini Liua Faumuina
Born	23 October 1974 Auckland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	116 kg (256 lb)
Sport
Country	New Zealand
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Discus
Coached by	Les Mills
Medal record Women's athletics Competitor for  New Zealand World Championships 1997 Athens Discus Commonwealth Games 1998 Kuala Lumpur Discus 2002 Manchester Discus 1994 Victoria Discus IAAF World Cup 2002 Madrid Discus Oceania Championships 2010 Cairns Discus
Updated on 14 August 2012.

Beatrice Roini Liua Faumuina, ONZM (born 23 October 1974 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand discus thrower, a gold medallist at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics. She has represented New Zealand in three Summer Olympics. After winning the discus event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester she was featured on a stamp from Samoa.^[1]

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, discus gold medallist at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.

On 16 October 2005, Beatrice Faumuina was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization 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 Pacific Islands current events programme Tagata Pasifika.

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 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.^[2][3]

Faumuina finished seventh in the 2009 Reebok Grand Prix in New York, with a throw of 56.73 metres.^[4] She was expected to compete in the Prefontaine Classic meet in Oregon, in order to throw the qualifying standard for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin. However, she did not attend the meeting^[5] and her coach stated that she had decided to focus on her upcoming Bachelor of Business Studies exams instead.^[6]

Faumuina has retired from discus throwing.^[7]

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  New Zealand
1992	World Junior Championships	Seoul, South Korea	14th (q)	Shot put	14.58 m
			5th	Discus throw	52.20 m
1994	Commonwealth Games	Victoria, Canada	9th	Shot put	14.80 m
			2nd	Discus throw	57.12 m
1995	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	28th (q)	Discus throw	54.32 m
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	23rd (q)	Discus throw	58.40 m
1997	World Championships	Athens, Greece	1st	Discus throw	66.82 m
1998	Commonwealth Games	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	4th	Shot put	16.41 m
			1st	Discus throw	65.92 m CR
1999	World Championships	Seville, Spain	5th	Discus throw	64.62 m
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	12th	Discus throw	58.69 m
2002	Commonwealth Games	Manchester, United Kingdom	1st	Discus throw	60.83 m
	World Cup	Madrid, Spain	1st	Discus throw	60.83 m
2003	World Championships	Paris, France	13th	Discus throw	56.86 m
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	6th	Discus throw	63.45 m
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	4th	Discus throw	62.73 m
2006	Commonwealth Games	Melbourne, Australia	4th	Discus throw	59.12 m
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	25th (q)	Discus throw	55.75 m
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	28th (q)	Discus throw	57.15 m
2010	Oceania Championships	Cairns, Australia	1st	Discus throw	58.32 m CR
	Commonwealth Games	Delhi, India	5th	Discus throw	57.79 m

References

1. Stanley Gibbons stamp number 1126, issued on 16 July 2003
2. "What has come over Beatrice?". The Sunday Star-Times. 24 August 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
3. "Faumuina a disgraceful loser". Stuff.co.nz. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
4. Faumuina finishes 7th - Newstalk ZB. 01/06/2009.
5. "Faumuina no show at Oregon athletics event". Television New Zealand. 8 June 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
6. Alderson, Andrew (14 June 2009). "Athletics: Beatrice out of world champs". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
7. "Queen Beatrice Faumuina’s reign is over - Celeb Stories - New Zealand Woman's Weekly". Nzwomansweekly.co.nz. Retrieved 2012-08-11.

• Beatrice Faumuina profile at IAAF

External links

• Page with Photo, one of two at Sporting Heroes
• FAO Goodwill Ambassador website
• Sports reference biography