Matt Denny
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Matt Denny (athletics) won gold in the men’s discus at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games after a superb performance where any one of his six throws would have been good enough to win gold. It was his second medal after joining 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 after Keith Pardon in 1938 and 1950.
Shortly after the Gold Coast Games, Denny and then 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 discus qualifying round – his throw of 67.02m second time around in Tokyo saw him finish in 4th place, Australia’s best result in the event. At his third Olympics in Paris in 2024 – and with new coach Dale Stevenson – he finally broke through for bronze, the first Australian to win an Olympic medal in the event. It was his first medal at a global meet after top six finishes at the three previous world championships and earned him the John Landy Award for the Male Able-Bodied Athlete of the Year at the 2024 Australian Athletics Awards.
Matt hails from the small town of Allora (population 1000), 150km southwest of Brisbane, where his focus at school was rugby league. He did much of his throwing on a homemade discus circle on his family’s rural property. As a junior Matt produced impressive results, winning the World Youth (under 18) Championships discus title in 2013, followed by fourth at the 2014 World Junior (under 20) Championships. He also won a silver medal at the Universiade in 2015. In April 2016, he won the discus and hammer throw national titles 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.
Results History
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