Paris 2024 Olympics: Discus champ Matt Denny’s secret Paris mind trick to win gold

Discus champion Matt Denny has revealed a secret weapon he picked up from golf star Cameron Smith to help his gold medal quest at the Paris Olympics.

Discus champion Matt Denny is using a mantra from golfer Cameron Smith’s psychologist to help him deal with the pressure of being a medal favourite at the Paris Olympics.

Denny has spent time with the man, who fellow Queenslander Smith credited for being an integral part of his career breakthrough victory at the British Open, to prepare himself for the biggest challenge of his career.

Sports psychologist Jonah Oliver is in the Commonwealth champion’s camp, helping him deal with the growing expectations associated with being one of the track and field team’s main medal hopes.

“An Olympics is just an ordinary performance on an extraordinary day,” is the Oliver line which Denny is now preaching.

Denny, who smashed the national record when finishing fourth at last year’s world championships in Budapest, then adds more detail.

Matthew Denny will be one of Australia’s hottest medal chances in Paris. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

“It is so true as you have to be smart in the way you address an emotional situation such as an Olympics because you can really read into the wrong things,” he explains.

“You can be extremely focused and that’s where sh.t goes wrong, that is where people choke out.

“It’s all about just repeating what you have been doing, it’s committing to your processes and not reacting to the situation.

“It’s not something that scares me or I worry about not taking advantage of an opportunity that I know may not come around again.

“I am excited for the challenge to be honest, I prefer it. I would prefer to care about something deeply which makes me question all decisions, to make sure I am ready to compete the best I can.”

Denny has been the almost-man. He finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, just 5cm off the podium after producing a career best, before claiming his first international crown with another personal best to win the Commonwealth title in Birmingham in 2022.

In Budapest the 27-year-old threw 68.24m to claim the Australian record from Benn Harradine which had stood for over a decade. Normally that would have been a guaranteed medal but this particular final was off the charts with two throwers over the magical 70 metre barrier.

He did gain revenge on his rivals, including Sweden’s Olympic and world champion Daniel Stahl, by winning the Diamond League final with another personal best (68.43m), pocketing $46,000 prizemoney in the process.

Matthew Denny (right) with rival Lawrence Okoye.

“The Diamond League win was a great step in the right direction in what we are trying to achieve,” Denny said. “I was super happy with that performance but that’s not going to give me an Olympic gold medal or even get me halfway there.

“I have to continue to progress and not rest on where training was and how I was throwing last year.

“70 (metres) is going to be the minimal standard in Paris if you are going to get a medal. I believed we were 100 per cent capable of a 70 in comp last year so I was disappointed I didn’t achieve that even though I had a pheonominal season and progressed well.

“It was nice to learn all of those lessons on how things worked last season so to then focus on an Olympic year where it is more important than any other year.

“Especially when you are coming in as part of the top four (chances), turning 28 and really starting the peak of your career … so this is where things really count.”

Denny came so ever close to winning a medal at the Tokyo Games. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

To find that extra edge Denny invited one of his main rivals, Great Britain’s Lawrence Okoye, to train with him for six weeks in Brisbane. The former NFL defensive tackle finished second to the Australian at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

The pair will go head-to-head in Denny’s first competition of the season in Adelaide on Saturday night and again at the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne next Thursday.

“It’s so good having him here because you can tell the difference in the environment, there is a little bit more of stimulus when you’re training next to each other,” Denny said.

Denny is also an avid golfer, off a handicap of 7, he plays twice a week and says it’s the perfect pressure release for him given it’s the only time he’s not thinking about throwing the discus.

Although it does cause its own mental stress with Denny already planning a visit to his psychologist in April before he lines up next to Oliver’s star pupil Smith at the LIV Adelaide Pro-Am.

Originally published as Paris 2024 Olympics: Discus champ Matt Denny’s secret Paris mind trick to win gold