Dani Stevens (née Samuels, born 26 May 1988)[2] is a retired Australian discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event.[3] She is the current national 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.[4]
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, a suburb of Sydney and started athletics at GreystanesLittle Athletics club.[6]
Samuels first attended Merrylands Public School, then moved onto Westfields Sports High School as a basketballer before changing to train with her coach Denis Knowles in the Westfields athletic program.[citation needed]
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.[7]
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.[8]
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 in February.[10] 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.[11]
Later in 2010 Samuels withdrew from the Australian team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games citing concerns over “health and security in Delhi”.[12]
Dani came 10th at the 2011 World Athletics Championships, 12th at the 2012 Summer Olympics.,[1] and 10th again at the 2013 Worlds.
^Clavelo Robinson, Javier (13 August 2007). Chumakova takes gold No. 5 for Russia in Bangkok – World University Games day 4 . IAAF. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
^Hurst, Mike (27 February 2010). Hooker and Samuels and visitors Pitkämäki and Vili shine at high class Sydney Classic. IAAF. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
^Johnson, Len (18 April 2010). Lapierre sails wind-assisted 8.78m in Perth – Australian champs. IAAF. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
^Lane, Daniel (21 September 2010). "Australian discus thrower bows out of Delhi Games". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
dani, stevens, american, singer, songwriter, née, samuels, born, 1988, retired, australian, discus, thrower, 2009, became, youngest, ever, female, world, champion, event, current, national, oceanian, record, holder, stevens, qualified, 2020, tokyo, olympics, t. For the American singer songwriter see Dani Stevenson Dani Stevens nee Samuels born 26 May 1988 2 is a retired Australian discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event 3 She is the current national 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 4 Dani StevensStevens in 2015Personal informationBorn 1988 05 26 26 May 1988 age 35 Fairfield New South WalesHeight1 83 m 6 ft 0 in Weight82 kg 181 lb SportCountry AustraliaSportAthleticsEvent s Discus throwClubWestfields Athletics Club 1 Turned pro2003Retired2021Medal record World Championships2009 Berlin Discus throw2017 London Discus throwCommonwealth Games2014 Glasgow Discus throw2018 Gold Coast Discus throw2006 Melbourne Discus throwUniversiade2009 Belgrade Discus throw2007 Bangkok Discus throwWorld Junior Championships2006 Beijing Discus throwWorld Youth Championships2005 Marrakesh Discus throw2005 Marrakesh Shot PutAfter winning the discus gold and shot put bronze medals at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics she went on to win the bronze medal in the discus at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne 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 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 Samuels is one of only ten athletes along with Valerie Adams Usain Bolt Veronica Campbell Brown Jacques Freitag Yelena Isinbayeva Kirani James Jana Pittman David Storl and Faith Kipyegon to win world championships at the youth junior 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 alongside her sister Jamie who has played in the Women s National Basketball League 5 Contents 1 Career 2 Personal bests 3 Achievements 4 References 5 External linksCareer EditSamuels 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 a suburb of Sydney and started athletics at Greystanes Little Athletics club 6 Samuels first attended Merrylands Public School then moved onto Westfields Sports High School as a basketballer before changing to train with her coach Denis Knowles in the Westfields athletic program citation needed 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 7 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 8 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 at the 2007 Summer Universiade 9 A few weeks later Dani took part in her first ever World Championships in Athletics 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 She reached the Olympic final in the discus at the 2008 Beijing Games throwing 60 15 m for ninth place 1 Competing at the 2009 Summer Universiade she became the Universiade champion beating Zaneta 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 in February 10 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 11 Later in 2010 Samuels withdrew from the Australian team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games citing concerns over health and security in Delhi 12 Dani came 10th at the 2011 World Athletics Championships 12th at the 2012 Summer Olympics 1 and 10th again at the 2013 Worlds She won the gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games with a throw of 64 88 m 13 At the 2016 Summer Olympics she finished 4th 44 cm behind Denia Caballero in bronze 14 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 15 Personal bests EditEvent Best m Venue DateDiscus throw 69 64 London England 13 August 2017Shot put 17 05 Sydney Australia 2 March 2014All information taken from IAAF profile Achievements EditYear Competition Venue Position Event NotesRepresenting nbsp Australia2005 World Youth Championships Marrakech Morocco 3rd Shot put 15 53 m1st Discus 54 09 m2006 Commonwealth Games Melbourne Australia 12th Shot put 14 91 m3rd Discus 59 44 mWorld Junior Championships Beijing China 7th Shot put 15 71 m1st Discus 60 63 mWorld Cup Athens Greece 6th Discus 59 68 m2007 Universiade Bangkok Thailand 2nd Discus 60 47 mWorld Championships Osaka Japan 13th Discus 60 44 m2008 Olympic Games Beijing China 9th Discus 60 15 m2009 Universiade Belgrade Serbia 1st Discus 62 48 mWorld Championships Berlin Germany 1st Discus 65 44 m2011 World Championships Daegu South Korea 10th Discus 59 14 m2012 Olympic Games London United Kingdom 12th Discus 60 40 m2013 World Championships Moscow Russia 10th Discus 62 42 m2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow Scotland 1st Discus 64 88 m2015 World Championships Beijing China 6th Discus 63 14 m2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro Brazil 4th Discus 64 90 m2017 World Championships London United Kingdom 2nd Discus 69 64 m2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast Australia 1st Discus 68 26 m2021 Olympic Games Tokyo Japan 22nd q Discus 58 77 mReferences Edit a b c Dani Samuels Archived 28 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine sports reference com Dani Samuels 2014 CWG profile Dani Samuels In a Spin Inside Athletics September 2009 edition Retrieved 7 October 2009 Athletics STEVENS Dani Tokyo 2020 Olympics olympics com Archived from the original on 7 October 2021 Retrieved 7 October 2021 The emergence of Dani Samuels olympics com au Merrylands Dani Samuels at Glasgow Games 22 July 2014 Tarbotton David 24 January 2005 China and Australian dual at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival IAAF Retrieved 2010 04 23 Samuels Dani IAAF Retrieved 23 April 2010 Clavelo Robinson Javier 13 August 2007 Chumakova takes gold No 5 for Russia in Bangkok World University Games day 4 IAAF Retrieved 2010 04 23 Hurst Mike 27 February 2010 Hooker and Samuels and visitors Pitkamaki and Vili shine at high class Sydney Classic IAAF Retrieved 2010 02 28 Johnson Len 18 April 2010 Lapierre sails wind assisted 8 78m in Perth Australian champs IAAF Retrieved 2010 04 23 Lane Daniel 21 September 2010 Australian discus thrower bows out of Delhi Games The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved 22 September 2010 Glasgow 2014 Women s Discus Throw Final g2014results thecgf com Retrieved 8 August 2017 Rio 2016 discus throw women Olympic Athletics International Olympic Committee 3 June 2017 Retrieved 8 August 2017 OLYMPIAN DANI STEVENS CALLS TIME ON HER CAREER Athletics AustraliaExternal links Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dani Samuels Dani Stevens at World Athletics Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dani Stevens amp oldid 1166469695, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
