By Casey OÇonnor
Allora’s Matthew Denny is still celebrating after taking gold in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games discus event.
Denny threw 67.26m to record a personal best and finish more than two metres ahead of nearest rival, England’s Lawrence Okoye.
“I should have done it at worlds two weeks ago but I’m glad I did it here,” Denny said after his win.
“It’s a great stage to do it on.
“I knew I was in good form, and I thought I could throw even better. I’m glad I could do it when it counts. “I’m so stoked.”
And so is his family, the whole of Allora and the whole Southern Downs Community.
Allora can now boast two gold medalists, Laura Geitz and Denny not bad for a town of around 1200.
Perry Cronin and the team from the Allora Regional Sports Museum will be getting ready to add another Immortal to the pair only recently inducted, Wayne Bennett and Laura Geitz.
Although Denny has the natural build of an athlete in his early years he probably saw his future in rugby league and probably Wattles and beyond.
Watching his brother suffer injury after injury during his league career, Denny decided to focus on athletics. Field more particularly. That wasn’t easy coming from a farm in Allora. To assist in his training, his family built a home-made discus circle on their property home.
When back home in Allora, he still trains the circle.
With hard work, sacrifice and dedication Denny has made the transition from prodigious young talent to Olympian and Commonwealth Gold and Silver medallist.
Denny, coached by the son of fast bowler Jeff Thompson, was convinced to concentrate his efforts on discus blew the competition out of the water with his final throw for the gold medal in Birmingham.
Denny’s win was the icing on the Commonwealth Games cake after the extraordinary effort of Ben Armbruster in the pool and the win by Charlotte Caslick as part of the rugby sevens.
