Further Information 

Competition Stats

AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Discus (junior): 1998 - 1st (U16), 1999 - 2nd (U18), 2001 - 2nd (U20)
Discus (senior): 2001 - 11th, 2002 - 3rd, 2003 - 3rd, 2004 - 5th, 2005 - 4th, 2006- 2nd, 2007 - 1st, 2008 - 1st

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Pacific Schools Games: 2000 – discus 8th
Commonwealth Games: 2006 - discus 8th (58.87m)
Olympic Games: 2008 – discus qualifying round (58.55m)

World championships: 2009 - discus qualifying round (61.74m)

ANNUAL PROGRESSION:
Discus throw
2000 51.50m
2001 54.76m
2002 57.78m
2003 55.25m
2004 57.68m
2005 63.65m
2006 60.70m
2007 62.99m
2008 66.37m

2009 64.40m

Interesting Facts

A top class indigenous athlete, Benn has competed at a high level in numerous other sports including swimming (against Ian Thorpe), baseball, basketball, water polo and cricket. Where possible, he continues to devote time and effort to Athletics Australia’s indigenous development program.

Benn was the first indigenous field athlete to represent Australia at the Olympic Games. He became the sixth indigenous track and field Olympian, joining Cathy Freeman, Patrick Johnson, Nova Peris-Kneebone, Joshua Ross and Kyle Van der Kuyp.

Sporting Career

As a teenager, Benn was a leading discus thrower and made gradual improvement during his early twenties. During these years he first travelled from Newcastle to Sydney for coaching (with Rudolf Sopko), then relocated to Brisbane to train under Steve Lemke.

2004 – Benn moved to Melbourne and joined coach Gus Puopolo, improving his PB by six metres in the space of a calendar year.

2005 – On a tour of the USA he threw 63.65m and climbed to No. 4 on the Australian all-time list.

2006 – Finished second at the Australian championships with a throw of 60.12m and second at the Victorian Championships. Commonwealth Games representation followed, Benn’s first senior international championships, where he finished eighth.

2007 – Ben won his first national discus title and threw 60m-plus in Hobart, Sydney and Adelaide. He then embarked on a solid European campaign of more than three months, highlighted by a win at the Stavanger Games in Norway and another victory in Sweden.

2008 – Won the Australian title then travelled to the west coast of the USA for a period of competition. He broke the Australian record twice in three weeks. Travelling to Beijing for his Olympic debut, Benn finished 17th in his qualifying round with a best throw of 58.55m. In December of 2008 he relocated to Germany.

2009 – After missing the domestic season due to injury Benn returned to competition with a vengeance, clearing the 60m-mark seven times in California and posting five top-three finishes. In May he recorded a throw of 64.03m at a throws meet in Halle, Germany, and went on to record a season-best throw of 64.97m to win the discus event in Lugano, Switzerland.