Dani Stevens (née Samuels, born 26 May 1988) is an Australian retired

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

er who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event. She is the current

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and

Oceanian Oceania ( , ) is a geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its continenta ...

record holder. After winning the discus gold and

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

bronze medals at the

2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics, World Youth Championships in Athletics were held in Marrakesh, Morocco on July 13–July 17. The host stadium was Stade Sidi Youssef Ben Ali. The boy's 400 metres hurdles event was initially w ...

, she went on to win the bronze medal in the discus at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

at the age of seventeen. She won the discus silver at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, with pr ...

and represented Australia at her first

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Alongside Olympic ...

soon after. She reached the final of the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

and improved significantly the following year to win the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

. Samuels is one of only eleven athletes (along with

Valerie Adams Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams (formerly Vili; born 6 October 1984) is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IA ...

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt (; born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican retired sprinter who is widely regarded as the greatest sprinter of all time. He is an eight-time Olympic gold medalist and the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, ...

, Veronica Campbell-Brown,

Armand Duplantis Armand "Mondo" Gustav Duplantis (born 10 November 1999), is a Swedish and American pole vaulter who competes for Sweden. Regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time, Duplantis is the current List of world records in athletics, world recor ...

Jacques Freitag Jacques Freitag (11 June 1982 – ) was a South African high jumper. Freitag is one of only eleven athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Armand Duplantis, Yelena Isinbayeva, Kirani James, Faith Kipyegon, Jan ...

Yelena Isinbayeva Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva ( rus, Елена Гаджиевна Исинбаева, p=jɪˈlʲɛnə gɐˈdʐɨjɪvnə ɪsʲɪnˈbajɪvə; born 3 June 1982) is a Russian former pole vaulter. She is twice an Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 200 ...

, Kirani James,

Faith Kipyegon Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (born 10 January 1994) is a Kenyan Middle-distance running, middle and Long-distance running, long distance runner. Kipyegon is the current List of world records in athletics, world record holder for the 1500 metres, 1 ...

Jana Pittman Jana Pittman (born 9 November 1982) is an Australian former athlete. During her athletic career Pittman specialised in the 400 metres run and 400-metre hurdles events. She is a two-time world champion in the 400 m hurdles, from 2003 and 2007. ...

, and David Storl) to win World Championship titles at the youth, junior, and senior levels of an athletic event. Her personal best throws are 69.64 m for the discus and 17.05 metres in the shot put. Samuels has also spent many winters playing basketball in the Waratah League alongside her sister, Jamie, who has played in the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

Career

Samuels was born in 1988 to mother Tracy Samuels and father Mark Samuels. She is the second eldest of 4 children and the family grew up in

Merrylands Merrylands is a suburb in Western Sydney, Australia. Merrylands is located west of the Sydney central business district and is in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Cumberland Council, New South Wales, Cumberland Ci ...

, a suburb of Sydney and started athletics at Greystanes

Little Athletics Little Athletics is an Australian activity program that involves modified athletics events for children aged 3 to 16 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory); 3 ...

club. Samuels first attended Merrylands Public School, then moved onto

Westfields Sports High School Westfields Sports High School (abbreviated as WSHS) is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex school, co-educational Comprehensive education, comprehensive and specialist secondary school, secondary day school, ...

as a basketballer before changing to train with her coach Denis Knowles in the Westfields athletic program. Her first global appearance came in the

at the 2003 World Youth Championships at the age of fifteen, at which she finished 13th in the qualifying rounds. She returned to the competition two years later (2005), winning the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the shot put (with a new personal best throw of 15.53 m), and the

in the discus. Samuels also took part in the 2005 Australian Youth Olympic Festival, winning the shot put and taking second place in the discus throw. The following year (2006) Dani opened her season with an appearance at the

– her first major senior championship. She reached the shot put final, finishing twelfth overall, but again it was in the discus where she excelled, winning the bronze medal at the age of seventeen. She threw a discus personal best of 60.63 m to win the 2006 World Junior Championships and was seventh overall in the shot put. Following this, she opted to focus solely on the discus throw at major tournaments. She closed the year with a sixth-place performance at the 2006 IAAF World Cup, representing Oceania.Samuels Dani

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. Retrieved 23 April 2010. Samuels became the joint Australian champion in the shot put with 'Ana Po'uhila at the start of 2007 and also won her first national title in the discus. She threw a near personal best of 60.47 m to take the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

behind

Yarelis Barrios Yarelys Barrios Castañeda (also ''Yarelis Barrios Castañeda''; born July 12, 1983, in Pinar del Río) is a discus thrower from Cuba. Career She won the ''Diamond Race'' in the women's discus throw of the IAAF Diamond League both in 2010 ...

at the

. A few weeks later Dani took part in her first ever

, just missing out on qualifying for the final round of the women's discus competition as the best performing non-qualifier. In 2008, she won her second discus national title and improved her best to 62.95 m in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. She reached the Olympic final in the discus at the 2008 Beijing Games, throwing 60.15 m for ninth place.Dani Samuels
. sports-reference.com Competing at the

2009 Summer Universiade The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Provin ...

, she became the Universiade champion, beating Żaneta Glanc to the gold medal by a margin of nearly two metres. She achieved a then personal best throw throwing 65.44 metres to win the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Samuels took part in the final edition of the

IAAF World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

, but she was past her season's peak form taking fifth place with a sub-60 metre throw. She started strongly the following year, opening her season with a personal best of 65.84 m to win at the Sydney Track Classic in February. She gave a consistent series of throws at the 2010 Australian Championships winning a sixth consecutive national title with a best throw of 63.31 m. Later in 2010 Samuels withdrew from the Australian team for the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...

citing concerns over “health and security in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

”. Dani came 10th at the 2011 World Athletics Championships, 12th at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

., and 10th again at the 2013 Worlds. She won the gold at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

with a throw of 64.88 m. At the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, she finished 4th, 44 cm behind Denia Caballero in bronze. The following year she threw a new personal best to claim silver at the London World Championships. She won the women's discus event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. Stevens qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and, after a serious neck injury sustained in training, which required spinal surgery and affected her throwing arm, she recovered to compete, throwing 58.77m, not sufficient to qualify her for the final. On 24 October 2021, Stevens announced her retirement from competing in Athletics.OLYMPIAN DANI STEVENS CALLS TIME ON HER CAREER

Athletics Australia Australian Athletics is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Australian Sports Commission for the sport of athletics in Australia. Founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 reg ...

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

Achievements

References

External links