00:0026 competitives have just arrived in Brisbane.
00:04They arrived to a rock star welcome with family and friends here holding flowers and handmade
00:09signs.
00:10Nine of them Olympic medalists.
00:12Now with me is Matt Denny.
00:14He got bronze in discus.
00:16Now congratulations.
00:18Amazing effort.
00:19How does it feel to be home?
00:21Yeah, it's nice to be able to, I guess, come home to something that's a little bit more
00:26exciting than, I guess, mining dongers when we were doing quarantine after Tokyo.
00:30So it's definitely a great change.
00:32But I think, you know, we did the Qantas welcome home and Sydney as well, like just to kind
00:38of feel that support and energy from Australia and also just, you know, just supportive family
00:43groups that are, you know, really the soul behind all of this team.
00:48It's nice to just celebrate with them and actually feel that support, like the Olympic
00:51spirit is very, very strong.
00:52And I guess it's just nice to see that in person again, instead of looking at mining
00:58donger walls and just hoping that the quarantine ends.
01:03And now you're from a regional town south of Toowoomba.
01:07Talk to me about where the passion for athletics and discus came from.
01:11Where did you sort of become inspired by?
01:13Yeah.
01:14So when I was younger, like I was very sporty, like played a lot of different sports.
01:18But one of the main ones was rugby league.
01:20And then I was kind of doing athletics here and there.
01:23Got dead last in the state in grade six and seven.
01:25And then I thought either I stop doing this or I get a coach.
01:29I decided to get a coach and try it out and figure out how to actually do it properly.
01:33And then from there, I just kind of fell in love with it.
01:35And that went from last in the state to second in the country and then started winning nationals
01:40and then went to worlds and just kind of went from loving the training to loving competing
01:44on the big stage.
01:45And then here we are.
01:48And I could imagine it takes a lot of hours, a lot of early mornings and late nights.
01:52Talk to me about what's involved in that.
01:54Yeah.
01:55Look, it's a lot of repetition, a lot of monotony, but I think if you connect to what it truly
02:02means to you and what you want to actually achieve in it, it makes it a lot easier.
02:05But yeah, there's a lot of dedication.
02:07I mean, a lot of people say sacrifice, but I think if you're doing what you love, you're
02:10not really sacrificing anything.
02:12You're just making the decisions to make you better.
02:14So yeah, it's, you know, it's a lot of that.
02:16We spend a lot of time obsessing over the events and it's kind of just part of it.
02:21But you know, creating moments like this and, you know, being part of the best men's discus
02:26final ever and meddling in that and writing your name in the history books, it kind of
02:30makes it all very worth it.
02:32And Matt, do you hope that you might have inspired some young discus competitors for
02:37Australia?
02:38It's a sport that we have struggled in in the past.
02:40Do you think that that could be possible?
02:42Yeah, I definitely hope I'm not the first and last men's medalist in the men's discus
02:46for 126 years.
02:47So, you know, I got a lot of support messages and videos and seeing kids drawing circles
02:52in their backyard and throwing, whether it's plates or actual discuses, like for me, makes
02:58it so much more special to be able to, you know, for me, like, you know, sometimes it's
03:03hard to fathom, like I'm just throwing a plate a long way and, you know, just enjoying that.
03:10To see that gives people inspiration to enjoy what they're doing or try something new or
03:14just get out and be active and fit and stuff is, yeah, like it's pretty satisfying to have
03:20that effect on some people.
03:22So, yeah, I hope that it turns another Olympic medalist, maybe even Olympic gold medalist
03:26down the track.
03:27So, if that person's listening to this now, bring it back to me in 20 years and let me
03:32know that this was the interview that brought it there, so, yeah.
03:36Well, congratulations and welcome home.
03:37Thank you so much.
03:38Cheers, appreciate it.
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