The photograph showed her on the podium at the world championships in Athens in 1997 when she was kissing the gold medal she won in the discus.
‘‘It gave me goose bumps when I saw that photo,'' Faumuina said. ‘‘It brought back all the memories of that day and still fills me with emotion.''
That huge photograph told Faumuina (33) she is still a respected athlete and there are many sports fans who want her to succeed in Beijing.
Faumuina's memories of that day in Athens, when she won the world title with a throw of 66.81m, came flooding back.
That gold medal made Faumuina an instant celebrity in New Zealand and opened doors for her.
Her speech when receiving the top trophy at the Halberg Awards confirmed her as an accomplished public speaker. She has never looked back.
‘‘I only had two legal throws that day in Athens,'' Faumuina recalled. ‘‘It shows you only need one good throw for the gold medal.''
Faumuina's six throws were: no throw, no throw, 66.81m, no throw, 63m, no throw.
It is this memory of her glory day 11 years ago that maintained Faumuina's interest in the sport when she failed to qualify for the final three throws at the world athletics championships in Osaka last year. She only threw 55.75m.
Faumuina knew that her personal- best throw of 68.52m would have won her the title, and probably a few more over the last decade.
That knowledge was enough to keep her going when a lot of doubts crept in.
She had three choices. ‘‘I could stay in the current situation I was unhappy with or look to realise my potential by changing a few things and doing everything better,'' Faumuina said. ‘‘The other option was to give up the sport.''
Faumuina decided on positive action and dumped her Hamilton-based coach Debbie Strange and asked Waitakere city councillor Ross Dallow to coach her.
Dallow was a New Zealand junior discus champion 50 years ago and has a detailed understanding of the throwing events.
His son, Matt, had returned from coaching stints in the United States to be the strength and conditioning coach for the Highlanders rugby team. Matt was in touch with the latest throwing techniques and was able to provide the technical expertise for his father.
‘‘I'd run out of answers myself and needed someone to provide the expertise,'' Faumuina said.
‘‘I needed someone to look at my throwing, give me a biomechanical analysis and tell me what to work on. I knew there had to be some changes.''
After Christmas, Faumuina sat down with Ross to map out her future.
‘‘We asked ourselves where do we go from here and what areas we needed to cover,'' she said.
The first indication the new plan was working came at the national championships at Mount Smart, Auckland, last month when she retained her discus title with a first-up throw of 61.73m.
It cracked the Olympic qualifying standard of 61m.
‘‘I'd no idea that I'd done it. It was a surprise to me,'' Faumuina said, ‘‘It was just nice to reach the qualifying mark and get it done.''
Faumuina spent last week working with Matt in Dunedin. There were technical sessions at the Caledonian Ground and strength sessions at the Academy of Sport gymnasium.
The Academy of Sport staff filmed her technical sessions and Faumuina took a copy back to Auckland to study with her coach.
‘‘A lot of my throws were going to the left-hand side of the sector and this was giving me a lot of problems,'' she said.
To become competitive on the international scene again required Faumuina to make some significant changes in her technique.
‘‘I had to change the old patterns and feelings that I was familiar with,'' she said. ‘‘I had to erase what worked in the past but was no longer working.''
When an international athlete like Faumuina puts everything together it looks easy. But there is a lot of hard and technical work that goes on in the background.
‘‘What people don't see is all the technical aspects of the throw,'' she said. ‘‘A one-and-a-half turn looks easy but I have to repeat the drills over and over again to get it right.''
Beijing is special for Faumuina because it will be her fourth Olympics. But just competing is not enough. She wants to place higher than her seventh at Athens in 2004.
‘‘I'm driven by the outcome. It's absolutely important to me,'' Faumuina said.
‘‘I've still got a lot of work to do. At the moment I'm keen just to take it step by step.''
She admitted being inspired by Valerie Vili's shot put gold medal at the world championships in Athens.
‘‘In our country we are proud if anyone does well,'' Faumuina said. ‘‘It lifts the spirits of the people.''
It was also good news for the tightly-knit throwing community. The gold medals by Faumuina in 1997 and Vili last year have started a new era in New Zealand athletics.
In the past most of New Zealand's international success came in the middle and long distance events.
‘‘It is not necessarily a new tradition but a lot of medals have come in the throwing events in recent years,'' Faumuina said. ‘‘We are putting it into the minds of people that our sport is track and field, and not just track.
‘‘We are showing that there is another avenue for success in our sport. I am enjoying it.''
Beijing will not be the end of Faumuina's athletics career.
‘‘I intend to keep going,'' she said. ‘‘It's exciting for me. I'm enjoying the training and have so much to learn.
‘‘I've got plenty of years left. Last year's world champion turns 40 this year.''
