Rio Olympics 2016: Gold coin for Valerie Adams

Valerie Adams already has a gold medal before she throws in Rio this Saturday.

Valerie Adams already has a gold medal before she throws in Rio this Saturday.

In a bid to encourage the world shot put champion and double Olympic gold medallist, New Zealand Post has made a special delivery to Adams and sent her the very first gold coin produced for the 2016 Games.

Limited edition gold and silver coins and a series of stamps are being released by New Zealand Post to celebrate the Games. The designs depict the journey of New Zealand's Olympic athletes, from training in the New Zealand landscape to their ultimate destination of Rio.

The gold coin was to delivered to Adams at her training base in Switzerland. The coin is one of only 250 to be produced, and was the first to be minted. The retail price for each gold coin is $1,899.

"Valerie Adams is an ambassador for New Zealand Post and has supported our involvement in junior sports and other community events tirelessly," says Head of Stamps and Coins, Simon Allison.

"We wanted to do something special for Valerie to let her know how proud we are of her. To wish her all the best for Rio, we sent her our very first Olympic gold coin," says Simon Allison.

Valerie Adams says she was thrilled to take a break from training to open up the courier package.

"It looks like a medal, feels like a medal - it's mint!" said Valerie. "It's a beautiful design and will be a very special memento of my own journey to Rio."

The outer rim of the 1/2oz gold proof coin features elements of NZOC's "Be the inspiration" ribbon, with ten icons representing the sports in which New Zealand has previously won gold medals. The silver proof coin depicts the same images and will have a limited run of 2,016 coins.

New Zealand Post has also produced ten $1 stamps featuring the ten events that New Zealand has previously won gold medals in, and an exciting series of stamps will be issued during the Games.