KEY POINTS:
Valerie Vili isn't too keen on talking about Beijing. The new women's world shot put champion has dragged herself off a plane, jetlag and all, and is focusing on her next big assignment: rest and plenty of it.
It's no surprise that she is fielding questions about next year's Olympics now. Her bravura, and perhaps under-appreciated, performance to win the world championship in Osaka ahead of Belorussia's Nadzeya Ostapchuk, has stamped her as perhaps this country's biggest medal hope for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"Man, it's a year away and a lot can happen in a year, particularly in this sport," said Vili. "I haven't worked out a plan of attack for next year yet - I have to talk to my coach and my support team about that."
But one thing is for sure - the competition will soon be working up game plans for her after Vili's year, which she described in trademark fashion as "awesome", and which saw her rise to the very top of women's shotputting.
Even more threateningly for Ostapchuk and the other putters, Vili is now displaying a menacing consistency. In 2007, there have been only eight throws over the magic 20m mark. Vili, including that explosive final 20.54m throw at Osaka (the world's best this year) has three of them. Ostapchuk has four and only one other thrower, Germany's Petra Lammert (who finished fifth in Osaka), has managed more than 20m so far this year.
But, while consistency is highly desirable in shot put - Vili is thrilled that she threw over 20m twice in competition this year, which she'd never done before - it remains one of the most unpredictable of events. Competitive dangers can just show up, seemingly from nowhere.
"You just never know," she said. "All of the Russians, all of the European countries, they all produce throwers who are dangerous and there's always the potential of the USA, of course. You never know who's suddenly going to be up there."
However, that consistency of hers and the ability to uncork a big one - as she did in Osaka, on her final throw - is an enormous asset. In Osaka, that final throw was at least partly fashioned from her father's recent death and from her coach's prompting to "do it for him" and for Vili to show "who she was".
But Vili says she doesn't need to rely on that sort of emotional boost to win.
"You've got to understand, it was a big emotional time, there were lots of memories and all of those things sort of came together at the right time.
"But I don't need to rely on that sort of thing. It's all about your preparation and your state of mind and the competition; what you've done before and many other factors."
Her two months on the European circuit has, especially with her world championship win, cemented Vili as one of the leading attractions in the field events. It has also thrown her closer together with the other shotputters, including her closest rival, Ostapchuk.
"Absolutely, we are friendly and socialise," she said. "I wouldn't say we were best buddies or anything but we are friendly and the girls do see each other and have conversations outside of competition.
"Competitions are competitions and we are quite sociable outside of them."
That leads to some interesting psychological challenges during competition, when the putters employ "blocking-out techniques".
"It's the same as the crowd," said Vili. "We try and block out the crowd - 80,000 screaming people can affect you a bit - and we try and block each other out as well."
Other than the putters already mentioned, the strongest challenge to Vili could come from the Chinese women - both called Li. Ling Li finished fourth in Osaka, with a personal best just under 20m and the older Meiju Li (sixth in Osaka) has also performed well.
However Vili and all the other putters are a long way from the world record - now the oldest surviving record in international athletics. It was set by Natalya Livovskaya of Russia in 1987, a year before she took the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
The world mark is a full 2m ahead of Vili's best and Livovskaya has the top four women's shot distances ever thrown.
World records are one thing, Olympic golds another but Vili isn't worrying about either right now. She's more interested in earning a medal in resting.
