 Hey everybody it's Eric Johnson from Airtay Throws Nation and before we set up today's video obviously just wanted to say everybody be safe. We know that the coronavirus is a real threat right now. Now there is a lot of panic and so be smart, wash your hands, do the things that you know that are going to keep you safe and we're going to try to keep things as normal as possible so and I'm going to talk a little bit about Matt Denny. Now if you don't know who Matt Denny is Matt Denny is one of the big rising stars in the world in the men's discus. At the age of 23 last year he was six of the world championships in Doha. He is one of the most coolest, sharpest young guys I've met, met Matt back when he was 19 and at 19 he threw over 65 meters and qualified for the real Olympics to represent Australia. The guy is an absolute talent. It was completely clear that this guy was going to be the future. He is one of the big stars in the sport. He had a ton of great things to say. We talked a little about training, throwing and one section we talked about that was really interesting about how we would promote the throws. So hopefully you guys enjoy today's video. Check it out. You obviously traveled and competed against these guys in multiple competitions. How much do you get to know those guys and kind of become friends and stuff like that? Yes, see it's I everyone, everyone's really good. Like everyone's very kind, very nice to talk to, very friendly even though some of them have language barriers. But I love the spirit of competition if in the fact that you don't want to be beaten by him and he doesn't want to be beaten by you. And I think sometimes people get too complacent and friendly with that. Like even a world champs and stuff, everyone's oh well done, great performance, but he beats you dude. He's taken an achievement away from you and he's taken your prize money away from you. If he had that position, I think it's all well and good to be friends and all that sort of stuff, but you still need to have that sort of hunger to want to beat everyone else and have that it like yeah, I don't know, it's hard to word without saying like you're trying to be a tool about it. Like it's just having that will to win sort of thing, not being complacent with oh you know great throw man like yeah good work dude, but you know you've got you've got to be taking me like I'm gonna I'm gonna get that position back or I'm gonna throw up here, I'm gonna do better than that sort of thing. So I would like to see that come back more into the competition. Like yeah yeah just just those like classic like say for example Bolton Gatlin like just that kind of thing like they they had that rivalry and everyone like sense that tension and that gets people more excited in the sport like that's like one of the main parts of UFC like everyone enjoys fighting and watching that everyone loves watching the pre-fight and the games that go into it the tension between yeah you know like you and me man like let's go sort of thing I would love dude I'd love to have like a like a mock press conference where like everyone's like trash talking to each other and just like making it not so listen that's a that's a good point but just give us an example of a pre-discus throw comp press session top shit session no just wait imagine if you like imagine if you walked in imagine you walked in you just you know say it's say it's finals time right and everyone's like obviously your right foot's trash Denny your right foot's trash your block you call that a block I'm going to block your ass tomorrow just like stuff like that and then like say if you had the final you had the top 12 right and you've got you know you got your press conference table and then you got weighings like you know like for say sports bed you know you've got all your bedding odds and all that it's like well all right you know everyone's having their way in watch their seasons best all this sort of stuff you know if you want to trash talk you can just be like you know if someone asks a question like you can just sort of like make a small remark I don't know if you see so funny like and it would make everyone sort of more interested like oh well like oh well style talk yeah exactly that's what I mean like style trash trash talking Frederick and all that sort of stuff and like I just think that would be either super funny or would actually like lift the performance and everyone would just be like so in like so intense in competition that you just you would get that I don't know that just heightened will to win and that's sort of like fight or fly it's like dude I need to perform now you know I've talked all this game or he's like he's talking about me and I've got to step up somewhere I was gonna be so sick it'd be so much more fun I don't know it's I just I reckon that's I like that idea my wheels the wheels are turning yeah all right pick watch the future irritate throws yeah so the question is what do you think what do you think the sport can do to bring more publicity because that's one of our goals with their day throws nation is to get more eyeballs more attention yeah see okay so let's do some positive so what I really liked about Doha was the fact that they gave visual representation sort of like golf they had you release speed they had your wrist release parameters they had shot tracer you know that kind of thing that was really good because that gave spectators more insight to that kind of thing I think a bit more dynamics between the athletes not being so lovey-dovey friendly sort of thing like oh me great work you just beat me sort of thing more that aggressive you know oh well it's Daniel Starvers, Frederick Dackers, 1v1 or like you know that sort of interest pick a side pick a team you know people always want to side with someone like say for me Gregor like you either love me more you're hating but no matter what someone's picking a side and everyone's going to watch because they either wanting to win or they wanting to lose and it's just that that kind of thing I think bringing that more like direct attention to it and the other thing is like say say for example I understand that track meets go for a while you know Diamond League are trying to cut it down to a certain timeframe or that sort of stuff for broadcasting but when you when you think about it Cricket's one of the one of the most watched sports in the world, Tannis is one of the most watched sports in the world and it goes longer longer than athletics so I don't think it's the presentation time I think it's the I think it's it's the coverage and it's the way that it's the way that the meet is yeah like schedule our schedule so like I think if you can condense it more like you can you can have so much stuff going at a track mate and condense it all together and you could get most events in within an hour and a half if we want to make the sport better and to get more people interested if you okay here's a simple way to say if you're the best in the world you should be able to perform on one throw it's like golf for example like if you go on a golf and you warm up and you hit four terrible shots and then hit the fifth shot you're like oh man I'm pretty on today like no dude you're about sit you're about four over already like you're not on so you know if you can't if you can't get your best throw within four throws you have an issue like you're not performing at if you're supposed to be the best in the world you should be able to perform within four throws within three throws I'm saying give it three throws but you know if you have eight athletes top eight athletes in the world four throws that's 45 minutes if that if you're correcting scheduling that and then you know you can have that going you can have pole vault as soon as discus finishes the lines are marked jabs going and shots going during it you've got the hundred going finish that all right 200 is going it's just I think need to be more immediate in the way it is because I think if you can go oh this is happening get the commentators more engaged say like Halle throws first like you go there man like the commentators are so into it all the shots street meets like it's just hype city it's getting that involvement into the sport so it's not a time-based it's a scheduling and and personality-based side of things so like football like football us football without communicating yeah it's nearly the same that's what I mean like you well what is the heart what are quarters supposed to be it's like 15 minutes but the game's like like three hours yeah so yeah and yeah and I think that you also need to with promoting the sport doesn't matter the way it's within your country or whether it's within the world like safer world athletics or whatever put more attention on the personalities of the sport than the actual you know obviously you you give attention to people begging world records they're winning all the time consistently blah blah you know giving that attention they deserve that doing really well but really promote the the personalities of the sport because that's where people get super intrigued like you know everyone love everyone watch bolt not because because of the fact that it was fast and it was a freak and it was just broke every world record it was but he had a personality he really entertained people he really gave put a show on and you know say for Daniel Daniel when he competes puts on a show when he won sprints out people love that like mean city with that like everyone circled that around but more attention to throwing and Daniel has a personality so if you do that I think that's where the sport grows a bit more people take more interest in that because of the personalities and maybe even like a team-based side of things like obviously they're the consensual cup where it was kind of a team-based thing but maybe I don't know say say Christian Taylor triple down because like he's mate he's a great personality he's awesome for the sport he's team captain for team whatever and then you've got Daniel as or you know whatever sent Danny Stevens or whoever it is as captain for another team and you you draft your team you draft your team and then you go to like you go to Stockholm Diamond League or you go to a Diamond League or you go to a comp or whatever it is and it's you versus you you versus you versus you and it's like it can be um yeah it's all like an exhibition sort of thing and I don't know there's I think there's a lot of ways you can do it not the way that I look at they tried that in the States but I don't think they promoted it and the way they did the draft in the number of the amount of athletes it was kind of limited I thought it was pretty it seemed like it was really cool but it's probably expensive and there wasn't hyped or promoted quite enough I find the way that they're with cutting the events for the Dime Leagues is practically you're trying to save it in dangerous species by killing the endangered species like the sport is the sport like all the all the events are part of the sport you can't just take us the events out like the fact that Hamel was out because of insurance purposes or whatever it was or safety issues I'm like that's what the cage is for that's not the issue so like I could be wrong whatever but I just I just think that there's a better way going about it and a lot of a lot of sports are trying to from this is my from my view point a lot of the sports are trying to follow the big bash method so like you know Australia did the Nitro series but then there wasn't much follow-through with that and then they tried to do that Continental Cup team thing and then now they're trying to withdraw reduce it back into an hour and a half of of Goldcastle golf people go out and watch golf that takes forever the US football takes forever that's the other one so we were talking about it when we were at Q-Sack today like you know like you said the street comps like in you know the Diamond League Final in Brussels yeah and it was like all the people around like it's super and so getting down like if you could watch the the pole vault from around the pit yeah it'd be amazing that's that's what we're trying to do with um uh like what Quinza Matt Lynch is trying to do at Queen's Athletics is um like with some of the comps for Brisbane Track Classic this year is if we get enough funding for it and we can get a better level meet for it is bring the people in like especially when you're at Q-Sack Q-Sacks you know it's supposed to be for Commonwealth Games Olympics like pack footy games like pack stadiums but it's so big like even if you had 5000 people it looked empty so condense that bring them in and bring them close bring them around the cage and you know have that involvement put some barricades around it people would love that because when you especially like hammer, jav, disc, shot sprint like I want to talk about all of it when you're close and like near the athlete you can see and understand the actual what is happening like the force that yeah yeah like did you go you stand like within five meters of someone throwing 80 meters of hammer it's terrifying like the amount of force and power that they're holding and just letting going pin perfect is incredible but when you're standing 60 meters away and you see this tiny little ball and someone just turning in a circle like oh cool all right what's next anyway 30 minutes to the next event sort of thing it's you need that recurring continuous movement like that's and and yeah and like I said that that in like team investment like picking aside that's why people love team sports is because they have a side they have an allegiance that's their family that's their sort of like yeah that their allegiance to whatever they support it's hard to support an individual athlete like a team sport so if you can kind of try and put the two together or create personalities where they can do that anyway if they side or they they like you they hate you at least you get more attention to it so yeah I don't know it's just just thoughts it's all and everyone has their opinions on it and I don't know it's it's just frustrating because this I don't want to see the sport declined especially like now that I'm getting into it really well and like to the point where I want to be and the fact that like this would have been my first year where I could have done consistent diamond waves but I just pretty much got the rug taken out of my face um it's it's pretty frost riding you got any you got another question like an athlete's union kind of a thing yeah because of all the athletes if the athletes are collectively the sprinters and everybody said well we're not going to do anything unless all the events are in the diamond league like a strike almost I think a good example of it is like um it's safe for I'm pretty I'm pretty sure I have my facts right if I don't someone can fact check me in the comments or whatever but um so cricket Australia um especially like a lot of the cricketers back in the day used to be paid pretty terribly and they didn't have an athlete's association they probably paid terrible percentages like of total earnings I think it was maybe maybe six percent if that of total earnings and like cricket was doing pretty well and then they created their athletes association and they immediately went up to like 12 and I think now they're like mid-20s early 30s percentage of total earnings and like like the the low wage is like 200 grand and I I think that's you need to separate it because I think you need to separate the two entities and the two powers because you have conflicting focuses one's trying to make money the other's trying to like you have the sport as a profession and continue the sport to four people later on to continue the sport and have a profession in that and also grow the sport and enjoy for what it actually is so and if the sport grows you know ever truthfully right if you think about it the athletes need to make money and the the the organize the organizers got to make money otherwise they don't it doesn't yeah so it's it's better promotion and I think that I think that's what's it in the United States you know uh the and I would assume it's probably same here they will show the 5 000 meters I mean it's like or they'll show the 1500 meters and if anything you're going to recap three throwing events and show first second and third but they'll show a three and a half minute race and you have no idea and and here's what I would always say live watching 15 world class 1500 meter runners is insane they're like sprinting around the track but they you don't see that when you televise it you just see guys running you don't have an idea of how fast they're moving they're hauling ass so it's way more exciting to watch in person so but they don't it's the other thing the throwing is more interesting to watch on tv so there I think that that's part of the problem they don't they don't know how to they never present it right I love how I love how in the report when I say about how you know like within the surveys you know they haven't really depicted exactly how the surveys were done and who they've talked to and I mean they might have they might have released it later on but from what I saw they just said from the surveys that we've done we've done from spectators and athletes these were the sports uh the events that ranked lowest on like popularity for the viewership and all that sort of stuff and the way that I thought it was how the hell are you supposed to rate throwing on its popularity when you literally throw maybe uh showing maybe six throws out of the actual entirety of the comp six throws if you're lucky yeah exactly and the the amazing part about throwing is the the anticipation and the tension that can be created if you look back at 2016 olympics or 20 okay no 2016 was crazy 2009 was insane you know you've got hometown hero and they've broadcasted this really well you know you've got hometown hero robert and you know mount jas got out well and got his top throwers and you know throw by throw he's getting close to his connect and he's fine and they're explaining that you know he's got this he needs to find this he needs to find that you know he has it there does he really do it you know the moment of it you know giving that anticipation is the most insane part about throws like we're sprinting and all that sort of stuff 10 seconds it's done but the anticipation over 10 minutes worth throwing comp and waiting for that see what you can you do it can he connect it you know he's got that one like small minimal chance um and say for rio like in rounds i remember because i like i was at round six was phenomenal that's why you can't cut it to four dude yeah i know i was just yeah i was sitting back i was sitting with um danny uh stevens coach denis denis i was sitting there watching and and we just because christoph was like seven or six or something and he's walking in and i just said that denis i was like do you reckon he's gonna get it do you think he's gonna dig deep and do a robert harding in 2009 he's like i don't know i said let's see just flashed it and just seen that and like how many positions that changed over a period of one round you know koopa went into third and was so excited that oh my god i've got an olympic medal and then um and then what's his name um mellochelski was in second yeah mellochelski was in second but who um the other german um uh jasinski no is it jasinski yeah yeah so he and then he popped out went 67 and got third and then kicked his um kicked koopa out i just like just that crazy tension shifting and mellochelski i think had gotten bumped you know like koopa he was leading and then he got bumped by koopa and hardy i think and then he went back and got second yeah it was right it was and then daniel jumped up and got third i remember i was sitting awesome after um after christoff rip that throw we're just sitting back like what is going on and i remember like the crowd went crazy for that than like some of the hundred meter races and like other performances that were going on that usually take over the night but disc was like the main eye of the of the night so it needs to be broadcast better than for the viewers to understand that so and i mean like why like shot shot got capped but shots inside this year was a perfect example again another reason why we can't cut throws but look at look at this year in joha right i mean krauser kovacs wouldn't have won and ryan wouldn't have gotten silver so the guy who would have won if you cut it at four but then and then the thing is and those two yeah would have been it would krauser would have got the silver and joe would have gotten like fifth place let's see then the thing is though when you look i'm not saying we should cut throws but i'm saying if you cut the throws now the reason people are hanging onto six throws is because that's the way it's being freighted but if you change it to four the same effect would happen last round i need to dig deep you still get that same response so it's sort of like yin yang like i understand the same thing but you know you never know until you try it so it's i get your point and it's it's enjoy because i think that's part of the excitement you know and i mean you could you would still have that on four but yeah with that two more times it's like if you still can pipe it up and you did have you know krauser sitting in second and people obviously know ryan's the guy capable yeah and then of course joe comes in and just unloads and yeah did you where you were you there did you get to go watch the coin listen this is the most annoying story i reckon i have for ages so i'm a silent jew that week right and i thought i'm pretty buggered i've competed i've gone out a couple of times i've had some fun with everyone at some late night so i was just like and i had an assignment due in a couple of days and i was thinking i mean the net i think it was the next hour the day after and i hadn't started it um just be obviously i'm in world championship it's hard to get that started and i said no i like i've got to stay home i do want to go out and watch but i'll stay back and i'll i'll just watch it online and i'll um i'll finish this assignment i got i had dinner got back to my rooms they're like 150 words into my assignment and next thing i know i'm looking at the thing uh hadn't broadcasted yet but i saw live results 22 91 i'm like do i go like do i stay or is that going to be it and then i just sort of like slowly watch the comp and then um and then yeah and then crowds it goes and then um kovacs just drops it i just i was so annoyed i missed that calm i was so annoyed just so just still disappointed thanks for that was a good lesson for the kids out there you got to do your homework but do your homework first and then then go watch the best comp in the world oh yeah that was insane last question or so with the year obviously it's the olympic year this is a huge year this is the this is what everybody's training for um what's your now that they don't have diamond league i know that there was some additional meets added correct so there's discus in that second super league or whatever contentious yeah so what's what's your meet schedule going to look like you're opening up here in australia in a couple weeks which is kind of early right yeah it's just more like it's not like what folks you know anything compared to i really didn't focus on last year but we had to lighten off a little bit to try and get that crawl because of the funding system and all that kind of thing so this year like literally still going to be in main load like we haven't done any um fast adaption work or anything like that any speed work any like peaking side of things so just more to just come out just compete you know get used to that environment again and practice practice makes perfect right just getting that mental mental thing down pat figuring out how you need to approach the comp and learn okay well i'm doing this different comp why and address that um yeah 20 year olds um and yeah and addressing that so yeah it's it's early but it's just more of a fun thing it's just treated like a training session and get some get some work done but um yeah so we'll do odds domestic season stay in heavy training um and enjoy it and then we will assume you'll be going to Europe yeah so hopefully do the Tokyo test event on the i think it's like the 7th of May um which is in the Continental Series one the Continental Series one does not have discus for the first comp so but there's a test event the week before that does have this so i want to go try go to Tokyo just get a feel for it environment circle stadium all that just get a try out and then i'll go from there and i'll go straight to Europe for two weeks um stay in Italy um our um uh European Training Centre in Vorice and i'll just base there get some training don't get on my jet lag continue training and then uh like main domestic comp start off will be probably a Strava and then two days later we stock on Dime League which is nice because like obviously Daniel and Sweden so hopefully we get into that so we'll wait for confirmation but i think 6th should should be fine um and then do a couple more comps um within the Continental Series around the place um and but i'll just like fly in and out of Vorice stay as there in Italy as my base um because everything's like within an hour and a half flight and i can just put in my backpack have my disc travel do the comp fly back um and try to make some money out of the sport and um and then do a few more comps probably go to Halle and a couple of those German meets um and then stay in Italy for a couple of weeks train then head straight to Wacky Armour um in July uh early July for our pre camp which i think is like a week and a half so stay there for a week and a half get used to everything and then go into Tokyo um Olympic Village and keep prepping and sort all my stuff out compete throw well and then um stay that rest that week like you know enjoy the Olympic Village continue train but enjoy it and have fun and then finish off the season with a couple of comps hopefully come home around September um as there's a couple more comps after Tokyo and then yeah so i'll pretty much be away for six months so see if you have five or six months so it'll be a long time away but it's just the the high end of the sport is in in in Europe so it's where you're going to go if you want to enjoy the sport and you want to be you want to be in the action like over there um you have to go over there so it's just one of those things you gotta sacrifice um being home with family and all that sort of stuff and you know get the job done and but it's you know it's a sacrifice but it also is you know if you yeah like i said you want to enjoy the sport that's where it's at that's where the comps are at that's where that all is so yeah last thing hit me go for what's your what's your uh what do you want to place at the Olympics i know what you want to place what are you thinking how do you feel what do you think you can do to be honest i don't really from what from the what the last three months have shown of training i really have no idea what my limitation is so like yeah like i said i'm in heavy training but i'm throwing further than what i did when i was in peak in september so it's like so yeah and i didn't and i still didn't find that throw then so do i have like to me i'm thinking well if i had that good throw lurking there though just in connect well what do i have now if i connect it with what i am going to be in the next whatever so i i really don't know what is possible and what the limitation is i i think i'd be silly to put a limit on it because like because i'm young so i just i just want to go i always the thing i work along with my sports like is is when we perform when we go to comps it's not about the distance about it's about performing and being the athlete that you want to be and like the athlete i always want to be is that athlete that shows up first round go time and you know no matter what whether you're feeling sad tired perfects or whatever it is whatever feeling you just you you be the athlete that you want to be in the moment and perform um no excuses um so i think if i if i do that then i think anything's possible so and and like i said just know when to find that extra gear when you need it and step up when the opportunity presents itself so yeah i just it's very freaking far this year that's that's the goal so yeah yeah well and thank you i really really appreciate you guys yeah really appreciate you doing this and it was great to hang out took four years to finally catch up together so yeah