In the highest quality final in Olympic history, it took two different athletes breaking the Olympic record to beat the 28-year-old Australian. 

Matt came to Paris ranked third in the world and at his third Games he was desperate for, and due, a podium. 

He finished fourth at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, missing bronze by just five centimetres with a 67.02m. 

At the world championships in Budapest last year he was again fourth (68.24m). 

But in Paris it was podium night, for the popular giant of the Australian athletics team in an event he dubbed as “the greatest Olympic men's discus final ever”.

And he won his Olympic medal at one end of Stade de France, as pole vaulter Nina Kennedy won gold at the other. The stadium celebrations followed the Mixed Walking Team’s relay bronze which started the historic day.

“To be honest, I didn't walk into the comps today going, ‘Please, dear God not another fourth’,” Matt said.

“I was walking in like, we are going to win this, and we're in the form to win it and we can, we can do this obviously didn't play out.

“But we gave it one of the best cracks you could ever see. 

“So we're very proud of that. I was just thinking let's just do something for the people that supported me and have been putting all this work into making me the athlete that I am.”

Lithuanian world record holder Mykolas Alekna, and pre-Games favourite, broke his father’s Olympic record with a 69.97m throw in the second round, to take the lead from the Australian. 

In the fourth round, Jamaican Roje Stona caused a huge upset to throw 70m, almost two metres further than ever before, to win the gold and push Alekna to silver. 

Matt’s second round throw of 69.31 metres claimed the bronze was just 4cm shy of his Australian record.

“It was crazy comp to be honest. I expected it to be the comp that it was,” Matt said. 

“I knew that was gonna be a high standard and even when I threw that 69m.

“It's amazing to step away from fourth, I'm very proud of that and my team and I have done a incredible job of just being persistent with that and having a great process. 

“But also the inner critic of me is always, there's still more to go and we're not done yet, obviously want to try and get to Brisbane 2032 and step forward into winning Los Angeles in 2028.”

Matt’s mum was in the capacity crowd at the Stade de France to witness his medal-winning performance, his father was at home in Allora on Queensland’s Darling Downs. 

To bring some calm before the final, he watched an advertisement he made for Olympic airline Qantas which featured 120 of his closest supporters, family and friends who have been part of his journey.

And those were the people, many of them who had gathered at Allora’s local pub, The Railway, who were on his mind when he left the field post competition.

“I'm just a product of people putting their lives into my ability and I'm so grateful for those people,” Matt said.

“Before I went into the comp, I actually watched back the Olympic advertisement I did with Qantas, because I just wanted another look at the group of people that were in that shot. 

“Those people are my closest supporters; family, friends and those of that have dedicated their life and just always been there for me, no matter what and have never doubted what I've wanted to do. 

“I just wanted to see that before I walked in. They’re probably going off. I think there's a lot of people, probably a little tipsy at The Railway this morning.

“I heard it opened at 4am so hopefully the tab’s not getting sent directly to my account, but we'll see.”

Andrew Reid