Matthew Denny (born 2 June 1996) is an Australian athlete specialising in the

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 ...

. He won the bronze medal in the men's discus throw at the

Paris 2024 Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Early life

Denny grew up in the small town of

Allora Allora is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Southern Downs Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Allora had a population of 1,205. Geography Allora is on the Darling Downs in south-easter ...

(population 1000), located 60 km outside

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

and 150 km south-west of

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 ...

. He had plenty of space to throw things. For example, in Grade 1 at primary school he threw bean bags as shot puts and vortexes as javelins. His main focus, though, until grade 8 or 9, was rugby league. Denny was one of eight siblings and just wanted to be as good as his rugby-playing brothers. In his teens Denny turned his attention to athletics and built a homemade discus circle on his family's rural property. In 2013, he won the World Under 18 Youth Championships discus title and then came fourth at the 2014 Under 20 World Junior Championships. He then won a silver medal at the

2015 Summer Universiade The 2015 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXVIII Summer Universiade () and also known as Gwangju 2015 () was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), hel ...

Achievements

In April 2016, Denny won the national discus title with a throw of 60.47m and the hammer title with 68.44m. He became just the second athlete in the near 100-year history of the event to win this double and the first since Keith Pardon in 1953 – 63 years earlier. Denny represented Australia in the discus throw 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. At the 2018

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

held in

, Australia, Denny competed in both the discus and hammer throw events, coming second in the

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

with a PB of 74.88 metres and fourth in the

. He was the second Australian athlete, and first in 68 years, to compete in both events at the Commonwealth Games, following Keith Pardon who competed in the same pair at the 1938 and 1950 Empire Games. In February 2020 in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, Denny threw a personal best discus throw of 65.47m. In March 2021 he won the national discus title with 63.88m. In June 2021, on the Gold Coast, Queensland, he threw a 68 cm personal best of 66.15m which both qualified him for discus throw at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

and moved him from fifth to third Australian all-time. He competed in the final of the 2020 Olympic discus throw, throwing 67.02 m, just 0.05 m less than the bronze medalist,

Lukas Weißhaidinger Lukas Weißhaidinger (born 20 February 1992) is an Austrian discus thrower and shot putter. He was European junior discus champion in 2011 and holds the Austrian record in men's discus throw. He won bronze medals at the 2018 European Championsh ...

of Austria. Denny won gold in the

at the 2022

with a PB of 67.26 m (all five of his other throws were over 65.25 m). He won the 2023 Diamond League Final. In the

, Denny secured the bronze medal in the men's discus throw with a throw of 69.31 meters, earning a spot on the podium alongside gold medalist

Rojé Stona Rojé Stona (born 26 February 1999) is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes in the discus throw. He broke the Olympic record to win the gold medal at the Athletics at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's discus throw, 2024 Summer Olympic ...

and silver medalist

Mykolas Alekna Mykolas Alekna (born 28 September 2002) is a Lithuanian athlete who specializes in the discus throw. He is the current men’s world record holder of the event with 75.56 metres (247 ft 10.8 in). At the age of 19, he won the silver medal at the ...

. His throw was amongst the longest in Olympic history. He then threw a meeting record 69.96m to win the

2024 Diamond League The 2024 Diamond League was the fifteenth season of the annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by World Athletics. The competition was a revision to the top level athletics series since Diamond League foundation in 2010. Th ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

in Brussels, Belgium. Denny set a new Australian and Oceanian record of 72.07 metres at a meet on 6 April 2025 at the Seal Throwing Club LLC / Throw Town,

Ramona, Oklahoma Ramona is a town in Washington County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 535 at the 2010 census. History The town began as Bon-Ton, but changed its name to Ramona in 1899 in honor of the Helen Hunt Jackson novel of the same name. ...

, USA, the 5th longest discus throw in history. All five of his other throws were over 69 metres. On 10 April 2025 Denny threw 74.25 m at the Oklahoma Throws Series, just 10cm shy of the world record, and, with a series of 71.03m, 73.46m, 74.25, 72.93m, 71.14m and 73.56m, he achieved a series average of 72.72 m, the best in history. His personal best in the hammer throw is 74.88 m set in Gold Coast in 2018.

International competitions

References

External links

*
Matthew Denny
at

Australian Athletics 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 ...

Matthew Denny
at Australian Athletics Historical Results * * *
Matthew Denny
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

(archived
alternate link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Denny, Matthew 1996 births Living people Australian male discus throwers Australian male hammer throwers FISU World University Games silver medalists for Australia FISU World University Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade Olympic athletes for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Australian Athletics Championships winners Diamond League winners People educated at Toowoomba Grammar School Sportspeople from Toowoomba Athletes from Queensland Sportsmen from Queensland 21st-century Australian sportsmen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics