caption fullname coach updated event birth_place weight image_size height sport birth_date image article_title
beatrice faumuina at the olympic games in athens 2004 beatrice roini liua faumuina malaeka 14 august 2012 discus auckland 116 kg lb on 390 x 594 1.80 athletics 23 october 1974 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/faumuina_bea_object04_%28athens2004%29_0.jpg/522px-faumuina_bea_object04_%28athens2004%29_0.jpg beatrice faumuina

beatrice faumuina

beatrice roini liua faumuina , onzm -lrb- born 23 october 1974 in auckland , new zealand -rrb- 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 .
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 -lrb- fao -rrb- .
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 57.18 m , 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 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 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 .
