Valerie Sloper competed in her first British Empire and Commonwealth Games (later the Commonwealth Games) at Cardiff in 1958, winning gold in the shot put and bronze in the discus. During the 1962 Perth and 1966 Kingston games, competing under her married name, Valerie Young, she won four more golds. In 1974 she made a comeback at the Christchurch games, winning silver in shot put. She also competed in New Zealand's 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympic teams, each time narrowly missing out on bronze. No other New Zealand athlete has matched her total of five Commonwealth Games gold medals.
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