Nicole Bradley who was head girl in 2010 has been selected in the NZ Team to go to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Below is an article from Sky Sports Locker Room:

Nicole, who is a Radiographer, never pictured herself competing at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, after going through a rough patch in her athletics career. But the hammer thrower is glad she persevered - to be one of three Kiwi women throwers at the Games.

This time last year, Nicole Bradley was on the verge of quitting the sport she’d dedicated so much of her life to.

“I was going to give up. I had three months off but I wasn’t sure I’d come back,” says the 30-year-old hammer thrower.

“I was so miserable competing. I wasn’t enjoying it at all and not enjoying the process of training.”

The five-time national champion eventually decided to return to athletics in a bid to throw 70m in competition. The mark was the driving force for Bradley through the prolonged Auckland lockdown last year, throwing by herself for months on end in muddy Auckland parks to get her training done.

“I really wanted to throw 70 metres, not for other people but for me. For so long it was about other people but I wanted to do this for me,” says Bradley who first picked up a hammer when she was 13 growing up in Dunedin.

Then at an Auckland centre club meeting on the North Shore last December, Nicole finally did it - throwing 70.07m (a personal best by 3m). In doing so, she cemented her case for selection for the two major international championships in 2022 - the world championships and the Commonwealth Games.  

Well done Nicole we are all proud of you and wish you the very best of luck!