| World champion's plot for domination thrown together in suburban park |
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NICOLE JEFFERY The Australian June 28, 2010 A world title came early for Dani Samuels but that doesn't mean she is easing off IT is just before dark on the shortest day of the year, and Dani Samuels is focused on her right leg. To fling the discus 60-plus metres, she must ensure her body moves into the throw before her arm, and that movement begins with that right leg. From there she spins into her throw and launches the discus out over the deserted athletic field. By the end of her training session, Samuels will be throwing out of sight in the gathering gloom. In two weeks she will be competing under the bright lights in Lausanne and Paris, but it is here, on a cold night in suburban Greystanes, just west of Parramatta, that you understand how at 21, she became the youngest female discus world champion in history in Berlin last year. With her long-term coach Denis Knowles guiding her in his soft Lancashire accent, she goes about her work. The throwing session is low-key but purposeful, just like the surroundings. "I know it's shabby,'' Knowles says, "but the lights are good and it's close to home.'' Samuels always does 30 throws, the first 10 with an overweight discus, and the next 20 with a 1kg competition one. A gym session in the morning has left her with heavy legs, but there is no sign of fatigue as each discus disappears over the 60m mark. They don't measure, because the focus here is on technique, but they know the range. Every few throws, Samuels pauses and consults Knowles. They exchange opinions on her posture, her timing. "I feel like I'm drifting forward,'' she says, but he reassures her the technique is sound. She heads back to the throwing circle. Samuels "looks for things other people won't even pick'', Knowles says. "She wasn't a natural discus thrower, but she's become a good technician. On attitude and work ethic you can't fault her. "I've never been involved with anyone who's worked as hard. She never takes the easy option.'' After 29 throws, Samuels has run out of plates. But she walks out across the field to gather one so she can come back and complete her session as prescribed. Then the pair pack up, searching for errant discs in the thick grass while sensible people are already tucked up at home in front of the heater. "I'm in the best shape of my life,'' Samuels declares, as she prepares to leave for Europe and a rematch with the world's best throwers at the Diamond League meets next month. If Samuels was chasing the money, she would be off contesting all seven rounds of the lucrative annual series, but her mind is on another major title. She has scheduled her competitions to bring her to a peak for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October. For most athletes, the world title is the culmination of their career, but Samuels is just beginning. Both she and Knowles were shocked the title came so soon when she won it last year. She is already four years ahead of the schedule the pair had mapped out for her when she was a teenager, but neither is content with that. "Winning a major title is important because it shows you are mentally tough enough to win on the day,'' Samuels says. "It was fantastic to win, but when I came back I was even more hungry. It makes you even more determined because all the hours you have put in have paid off . "I know there's much more I can achieve.'' What the two are looking for is consistent training and gradual improvement over a career that with luck still has 10 years to run. But the doping stain hangs over her event. The world record of 76.80m was set by East German Gabriele Reinsch in 1988, and no woman has thrown more than 70m in the past decade. Samuels knows the world record may be out of reach because of the doping in the 1980s, but she is not discouraged. After setting a national record of 65.84m in Sydney in February, she has set her sights on becoming a 70m thrower by the London Olympics in 2012. "If I can consistently get over 70m by London, maybe a bigger throw will be on the cards,'' she says. In the meantime, she and Knowles will continue to plot world domination from a local park in Greystanes. |