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

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...

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 record holder. Stevens qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and threw 58.77m in the Women's dicus throw. This was not a sufficient distance to qualify her for the final. After winning the discus gold and shot put bronze medals at the

2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2005 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 won by Sudan's Abdulagadir Idriss in a time ...

, she went on to win the bronze medal in the discus at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

at the age of seventeen. She won the discus silver at the 2007 Summer Universiade and represented Australia at her first

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

soon after. She reached the final of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and improved significantly the following year to win the gold medal at the

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

. Samuels is one of only ten 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 IAAF ...

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

Veronica Campbell-Brown Veronica Campbell-Brown CD ( Campbell; born 15 May 1982) is a retired Jamaican track and field sprinter, who specialized in the 100 and 200 meters.

, Jacques Freitag,

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 a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2004 and 20 ...

Kirani James Kirani James (born 1 September 1992) is a Grenadian professional sprinter who specializes in the 200 and 400 metres. He won the 400 m at the World Championships in 2011 and the 2012 London Olympics. In the 400 metres James also won the sil ...

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 200 ...

, David Storl and

Faith Kipyegon Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (born 10 January 1994) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specializing in the 1500 metres. A 2016 Rio Olympic and 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion with the Games record at the latter, she is the second woman in history t ...

) to win world championships at the

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

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, and senior level 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 The NBL1 East, formerly the Waratah League, is a semi-professional basketball league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2021, Basketball New South Wales and the National B ...

alongside her sister, Jamie, who has played in the Women's National Basketball League.

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 25 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is in the local government area of the Cumberland City Council. History Merrylands was named after the fo ...

, 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 , motto_translation = Courage and Valour , established = , location = 406A Hamilton Road, Fairfield West, Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , type = Government-funded co-educational comprehensive ...

as a basketballer before changing to train with her coach Denis Knowles in the Westfields athletic program. Her first global appearance came in the shot put 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 in the shot put (with a new personal best throw of 15.53 m), and the gold medal 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 2006 Commonwealth Games – 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. 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 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 an ...

at the 2007 Summer Universiade. 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 capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. 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, 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 The Sydney Track Classic is an annual outdoor track and field meeting held in February or March at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia. It is part of the national Australian Athletics T ...

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 (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...

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, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

”. Dani came 10th at the 2011 World Athletics Championships, 12th at the 2012 Summer Olympics., and 10th again at the 2013 Worlds. She won the gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games with a throw of 64.88 m. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, she finished 4th, 44 cm behind

Denia Caballero Denia Caballero Ponce (born 13 January 1990) is a Cuban athlete who competes in the discus throw. She has a personal best of 70.65 metres for the event. She won the gold medal at the 2015 and the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships and ...

in bronze. The following year she threw a new personal best to claim silver at the London World Championships. On 24 October 2021, Stevens announced her retirement from competing in Athletics.OLYMPIAN DANI STEVENS CALLS TIME ON HER CAREER

Athletics Australia Athletics Australia is the national sporting organisation (NSO) recognised by Sport Australia for the sport of athletics in Australia. First founded in 1897, the organisation is responsible for administering a sport with over 16,000 registered ...

Personal bests

*All information taken from IAAF profile.

Achievements

References

External links