Matt Denny (athletics) joined a rare club at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games where he competed in both discus (4th) and hammer throw (silver), just the second Australian – and first in 68 years – to compete in both events at the Commonwealth Games after Keith Pardon in 1938 and 1950. Shortly after, Denny and coach Ben Thomson decided he should concentrate on discus and the move soon paid off, winning gold at the 2019 World University Games and finishing 6th at the Doha world championships. Although his Olympic debut in Rio 2016 ended in disappointment – he only managed 61.16m in the qualifying round – his throw of 67.02m second time around in Tokyo saw him finish in 4th place, Australia’s best ever result in the event. Matt hails from the small town of Allora (population 1000), 150km southwest of Brisbane, where his main focus at school was rugby league. He did much of his throwing on a home hade discus circle on his family’s rural property. When back home in Allora, he still trains in the circle. As a junior Matt produced impressive results, winning the World Youth (U18) Championships discus title in 2013, followed by fourth the year after at the 2014 World Junior (U20) Championships. He also won a silver medal at the Universiade in 2015. In April 2016, he won the national discus title and the hammer title to become just the second athlete in the near 100 years of history of the event to win this double. One of eight rugby league-loving siblings, the versatile Queenslander is also a handy golfer and has won several long-driving competitions, while older brother Jonathan played for the Manly Sea Eagles and Canberra Raiders in the NRL.