Newsday - From dancer to Olympic gold in discus - BBC Sounds

It's the Diamond League final this weekend with the world best athletes over the course of a year meeting in Eugene in the US.

In the discus Valarie Allman has been a force for a few years, she won gold three years ago at the Olympics and last month she added silver at the World championships.

She told Newsday it was very special and meaningful to her that her first gold was an Olympic gold medal and ''the silver stung'' though she was ''proud of the work she and her coach did to prepare.''

Before competing in the discus she was a dancer and grew up doing ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop and travelled the country as a protege.

She got into athletics through her brother and "literally cracked the bar in high jump'' but the transition to discus was ''organic'' and something she had a ''weird knack for''. She says that after dance ''it was a really great match'' that has now turned into something she cant believe she's doing for a living.