Visa backs Valerie Vili’s quest for gold

27 AUGUST 2007

Visa signs shotput golden girl as its New Zealand Olympic ambassador for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Auckland, 27 August 2007 – Fresh from winning gold for shot put at the World Championships in Osaka with a final 20.54m throw, top Olympic medal contender Valerie Vili has been named Visa’s New Zealand ambassador for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Vili will represent Visa, a worldwide Olympic Games sponsor since 1986, through to the end of 2008.

With a World Championship gold medal firmly under her belt, Vili is clearly one of New Zealand’s top sportswomen, having also won a gold medal at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games and an eighth placing at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In 2006 she won the prestigious Lonsdale Cup and earlier this year she was named New Zealand Sportswomen of the Year at the Halberg Awards.

“Visa congratulates Valerie wholeheartedly on her tremendous achievement over the weekend. Valerie is a very talented, driven young woman who has achieved sporting excellence at an early age. She embodies the spirit and passion of the Olympic Games,” said Visa’s New Zealand Country Manager, Mr. Iain Jamieson.

“Our partnership with Valerie is about ensuring she has the right level of support to allow her to focus on the biggest event of her sporting career so far as she heads into the Olympics Games next year as the clear favourite.”

“Visa’s support means I can focus entirely on the intense preparation I must do for Beijing to bring home an Olympic medal. It provides me with the peace of mind and encouragement all athletes need to compete at an Olympic level. Visa’s support couldn’t have come at better time for me as I start my year-long build up to the Games,” Vili said.

Vili holds the New Zealand record for shotput. Alongside her busy training schedule she also works at Macleans College in Auckland as a Sports Coordinator.

Visa is the exclusive payment card and official payment service of the Olympic Games through to 2012, including the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and the London 2012 Olympic Games. Visa has been the official payment service of the past 11 Olympic Games – Calgary, Seoul, Albertville, Barcelona, Lillehammer, Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens and Torino.

Vili joins other Visa-sponsored Olympic athletes from around the world including American swimmer Michael Phelps and Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang.

About Visa: About Visa: Visa connects cardholders, merchants and financial institutions through the world's largest electronic payments network. Visa products allow buyers and sellers to conduct commerce with ease and confidence in both the physical and virtual worlds. Visa is committed to the sustained growth of electronic payment systems to support the needs of all stakeholders and to drive economic growth.

Visa products currently generate more than $4.8 trillion in sales volume worldwide. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world. In addition, Visa/Plus is one of the world’s largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in over 170 countries. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.

About Visa New Zealand: Visa is one of the leading payment brands in New Zealand with more than 1.7 million Visa-branded cards in the country and 125,000 acceptance locations. Visa’s card sales volume was NZ$16 billion for the year ended December 2007 . For more information, visit www.visa.co.nz or email nzinfo@visa.com.

ENDS

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