The Best is Yet to Come

Beatrice Faumuina had planned to make the 2012 London Olympic Games her last, however fate stepped in and delivered her best role yet. 

By Farida Master

There’s nothing more powerful or overwhelming than standing on the winner’s podium while hearing the national anthem and the New Zeeland flag being raised. Any athlete who wins a World Championship title will vouch that the incredible feeling of utmost pride stays with you forever. For Beatrice Faumuina, the unrivalled queen of discus throwing, it’s been more than once that she’s experienced this euphoric golden moment.

After competing at four Olympic Games, five World Championships and five Commonwealth Games, Beatrice zoomed into the international orbit of sporting heroes when she was declared New Zealand’s First World Track and Field Champion in Athens in 1997. She proudly led the nation as the flag bearer of the Olympic team in Athens in 2004 and made international headlines as she twice won Gold in discus at the Commonwealth Games at Kaula Lumpur in 1998 and Manchester 2002. Her towering achievements in a particularly iconic sport include being the New Zealand title holder 15 times and winning an avalanche of awards. In 2005, Beatrice was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to New Zealand Athletics. 

Watching the finishing touches being put on her makeup for this cover shoot, it’s a little surreal to see the once-reigning champion discus thrower at as much ease in a feminine ensemble at a designer studio as she is slipping into her track pants on the field. Beatrice is remarkably modest as she casually talks about having lunch with Her Majesty, the Queen in the same breath as she describes her terrifying audition for the current events programme Tagata Pasifika on TVNZ. “Trying to read the autocue without moving my head from side to side was a nerve-wrecking experience,” she laughs. Her honesty is equally endearing as she openly admits to being the quintessential adrenalin junkie – she desperately wants to participate in the Amazing Race.