BEIJING (AFP) — A slight security guard at the Olympic athletics stadium has learned a valuable lesson - never try to stop a powerful New Zealander who has just won a gold medal.
Valerie Vili, listed at 110kg (242 pound) and 1.93 metres (6ft 3in) knew she had won the women's shot put gold without needing her final throw late Saturday.
The ecstatic Vili began to race off to see her coach and get a New Zealand flag to celebrate - but they were on the opposite side of the track near the front row of a packed stadium.
An over-enthusiastic but smaller security guard thought she had better stop Vili running off, but there was never any doubt the big New Zealander would reach her target.
"They wouldn't let me get to the New Zealand flag," she told New Zealand Press Association.
"To try and manhandle me was probably not a good idea. She tried but I was eventually able to get the flag."
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