Further Information
Competition Stats
AUSTRALIAN CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Shot put: 1996 - 1st (U20), 1997 - 1st (U20) 2nd
(open), 1998 - 1st (open) 1st (CGT), 2000 - 1st (open) 1st (OGT),
2001 - 1st, 2002 - 1st, 2003 - 1st, 2004 - 1st, 2007 - 2nd (1st
Australian), 2008 - 1st, 2009 - 1st
Discus: 1996 - 1st (open)
INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Commonwealth Games: 1998 - shot 7th (18.44m), 2002
- shot 1st (20.91m)
Olympic Games: 2000 - shot qual round (18.59m),
2004 - shot 7th (20.31m), 2008 – shot qual round (19.91m)
World Cup: 1998 - shot 7th (18.26m), 2002 - 2nd
(20.77m)
World junior championships: 1994 - shot 12th
(15.67m), discus qual round (45.18m); 1996 - shot 2nd (18.21m),
discus qual round (48.70m)
World championships: 2001 - shot qual round
(18.70m), 2003 - 4th (20.61m), 2009 - Shot put qualifying round
10th (19.94)
World indoor championships: 2003 - shot put 5th
(20.65m)
ANNUAL PROGRESSION:
Shot put
1993 14.75m
1994 16.10m
1995 17.25m
1996 18.21m
1997 18.56m
1998 19.36m
1999 18.49m
2000 20.35m
2001 20.14m
2002 20.91m
2003 20.96m
2004 20.79m
2005 DNC
2006 19.97m
2007 19.76m
2008 20.53m
2009 20.39m
EVENTS / PERSONAL BESTS:
Discus throw: 59.10m - Brisbane, 16/02/07
Shot put: 20.96m - Brisbane, 5/04/03
RECORD(S):
National record - shot put: 20.96m - Brisbane,
5/04/03
National record - shot put (indoors): 20.69m
Commonwealth Games record - shot put: 20.91m -
Manchester (GBR), 31/07/02
Interesting Facts
Justin featured in an airline advertising campaign during the 2000
Olympic Games. In June 2004 his former coach Scott Murphy, a
strength and conditioning coach with the Brisbane Lions AFL club,
re-located to Bath in England to work with a rugby team.
Sporting Career
1987 – Began competing at age 11.
1994 – Competed in his first world junior championships, placed
12th and was the youngest shot put athlete to make the final.
1996 – 1999 – Entered his second world junior championships ranked
No. 2 in Australia and led the competition until German Ralf
Bartels took the title on his last throw. Continued to improve in
1997 and 1998 before injury kept him from competing in 1999.
2000 – Broke John Minns’ Australian record during the Grand Prix
Series and was selected on the Australian team for the 2000
Olympics, becoming the first Australian male to contest the shot
put at the Olympics for 40 years. Didn’t qualify for the final,
despite breaking the Australian record three times in as many days
on the Gold Coast a week before.
2001 – Claimed his fourth national shot put title.
2002 – Won Commonwealth Games in Manchester with a PB and a
Commonwealth Games record. Australia’s inaugural shot put gold in a
major championship. In September at the World Cup he took the
silver medal throwing 20.77m.
2003 – At the 2003 world championships in Paris, Justin finished
fourth – the best ever result by an Australian male in the throws
at a world championships or Olympics. He left immediately to be
with his wife who was due to give birth.
2004 – 2005 – Won the Telstra Olympic trials and his sixth national
shot put title. At the Athens Olympic Games he qualified for the
final, but registered just two valid throws after tearing a
ligament in his finger in the fifth round and finished seventh. It
was the highest ever result for an Australian male thrower at the
Olympic Games. He didn’t compete domestically in 2005 as he
recovered from the finger injury, forcing his withdrawal from the
world championships team.
2006 – 2007 – Resumed competition, threw 19.97m in Brisbane but
re-injured his finger in Canberra, requiring surgery and missed the
Australian championships and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Returned to domestic competition in 2007 and set a new PB in his
non-preferred discus event and finished second in the shot to
American athlete Christian Cantwell at the Australian
championships.
2008 – Justin threw over the 20m mark (20.21m) for the first time
in three years, to take victory over Scott Martin (20.19m) at the
nationals. Selected in the team for Beijing, where he joined Scott
Martin to make it the first Olympics since Melbourne in 1956 that
two male shot putters represented Australia. A solid opening throw
(19.91m) put Justin in a strong position to make the final of the
Olympic Games. However, unable to improve on that mark, he exited
the competition in the qualifying round finishing ninth in Group B
and 16th overall.
2009 – In March Justin claimed his ninth national shot put crown,
winning the event with a heave of 20.03m.
At the world championships in Berlin in August, Justin placed 10th
in his qualifying group and 14th overall, his best effort of 19.94m
not enough to advance to the final round.
2010 - In February Justin announced his retirement from athletics,
ending 17 years' involvement in the sport.
FAMILY CONNECTIONS
Justin’s father was a Queensland rodeo champion who just missed
Commonwealth Games selection in the pistol shooting event.