Best wishes from all in Police to our colleague Jess Hamill as she represents New Zealand at the Rio Paralympics.
Jess, a clerk at the Southern District File Management Centre in Dunedin, is ranked third in the world in Women’s Shotput (F34 category).
This week she is going for gold against athletes from China, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Morocco, Poland and South Africa.
“I love competition,” she says. “I love the buzz, I love getting pumped up. It’s an amazing feeling.
“I don’t stress about the cameras or the crowd. I’m going out there to throw my personal best, to better myself - and if that wins me a medal, so be it.”
Jess, a member of Dunedin club Athletics Taieri, has been competing in athletics – including shotput, javelin and discus - since she was 15.
She first took the world stage at the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2006 in The Netherlands, aged 17.
Then followed the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, then a break before returning for the 2015 IPC champs in Doha, Qatar.
She won silver medals at the 2006 and 2015 IPC champs and Commonwealth Games. She qualified for Rio with a 7.83-metre throw that clinched silver at Doha – and the Oceania and New Zealand record.
Jess says she knows most of her competitors and feels comfortable going into the competition. “I’m staying relaxed, making sure I have my coffees in the morning, then going out there and throwing the damn thing far!”
She feels well supported from home – vital on a long tour that included acclimatisation stops in Australia and the US before Rio.
“Support has been outstanding,” she says. “Family, friends, work, social media, schools - a lot of contacts. It’s really important at this stage and through the whole tour.
“I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for my wonderful fiancé Dale Gillan helping me through the good and bad times. Keep the support going guys.”
Jess is in action from 8.30am Thursday 15 September (NZ time). For the truly dedicated, the medal ceremony is scheduled for 1.48am Friday.
You can leave a message of support for Jess by commenting on the story on the Police Facebook page.
- Para-athletic events carry the letter F for Field or T for Track and a number denoting the sort of difficulty the competitors face – in F34 events they compete from a sitting position. Find out more at www.paralympics.org.nz/.