Dani Samuels putting past disappointments behind her and ready to produce best in Rio

DANI Samuels was 21 when she scaled the highest mountain in discus. Seven years on the 11-time national champion feels she’s finally ready to start climbing again.

Dani Samuels is in a good place heading in to Rio. Picture: Adam Head

DANI Samuels was 21 when she scaled the highest mountain in discus, claiming the gold medal at the Berlin world championships.

Seven years on the 11-time national champion feels she’s finally ready to start climbing again.

“It (Berlin) does and it doesn’t feel like a world away,” Samuels said. “Within my memory it doesn’t feel that long ago, but when you say it was 2009 and now it’s 2016 ... it was a long time ago.

“I’m 28 now and I was 21 when I won the world championships. A lot has happened in that time, three more world championships, another Olympics and a Commonwealth Games so I’ve got a lot more experience under my belt.

“With the performances and the training I’ve done this year I feel like I’m in the best possible situation that I could be going into any Olympics.”

Australian Olympic discus thrower Dani Samuels. Picture: Adam Head

Nothing went right four years ago in London where she finished 11th.

“The London Olympics was disappointing and when I think back, I just brush it off,” Samuels explains. “I tore my abductor in London in the final so I didn’t throw that well.

“It was very much inhibiting how I was trying to execute. But I tried to brush it off because I was so disappointed with how I went.

“Each Olympics and each championships is different in itself, every year is different.”

Samuels won the Commonwealth title in Glasgow in 2014 and finished sixth in the world championships final in Beijing last year.

She credits a change of personal circumstances as one of the major factors in her impressive build-up which included a throw of 67.02m in Germany last week.

Dani Samuels: “The London Olympics was disappointing and when I think back, I just brush it off.” Picture: Adam Head

A day after the Glasgow victory, her partner informed her that he’d taken up a job offer as an orthopedic surgeon on the Gold Coast. The move from Sydney has rejuvenated Samuels.

“I’m 28 now, I’m heading into the time when I should be at my strongest as an adult female,” she said.

“I’ve got a massive base behind me as I’ve been training hard since I was 16.

“Since moving to the Gold Coast we’ve brought in a weightlifting coach who has really improved my lifting technique and I’ve got a lot stronger.

“Power production and strength development have increased a lot and that’s allowed me to throw at a more consistent level throughout the year.”

Samuels knows she throws her best when in a happy place which is exactly where she’s at on the eve of her Olympic campaign.

“I’m in a good headspace this year,” she said.

“My life outside athletics is really good, I’m really happy, everything is going fantastically.

“I’m getting married after the Olympics in October so that’s something exciting to look forward to.

“I throw well when everything is going smoothly and I’m happy with everything else in my life. That shows in my throwing.”