Louise Currey: Shooting for the stars

Louise Currey, originally from Dapto has been inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame.

The javelin thrower and Olympic and Commonwealth games medallist said the news came as absolute shock.

"I haven't had a lot to do with athletics for a long time and I just got a letter about three weeks ago out of the blue," she said.

"To be honest I was put back a bit, don't get me wrong, it's a huge honour but it was something I had never even considered.

"So it was nice in that regard but at the same time I was never one for fan fare.

"But to be given that honour to be included into the Hall of Fame is just crazy for me."

Currey competed at three Olympics and two Commonwealth Games.

It wasn't just her results that landed her the honour, it was also the struggles she endured to get as far as she did.

The javelin thrower won gold medals at the 1994 and 98 Commonwealth Games and a silver in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympic Games.

Leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games (her third) Currey was one of the hot favourites to go one better and take out the gold medal.

But a recurring knee injury which first hit in 1987 struck her down again, in her prime.

Currey tore ligaments in her knee, of which she had undergone numerous operations previously.

The incident occurred about six weeks out from the games and Currey was told she would not compete.

"Hearing those words, that I couldn't compete, just made me try harder," she said. "From being in the best shape of my life to this happening was just devastating."

Currey battled through five weeks of rehabilitation to defy doctors orders and make it to the Olympics.

"To have gone through those few weeks with the mindset I had to be able to go out there and compete was one of my greatest achievements in my eyes," she said.

"I knew I couldn't win but I deadest thought I was going to make the finals. I wasn't going to accept anything else."

Currey needed to throw 60 metres but finished with 53 metres.

The Olympian new immediately after the games that was it for her in the sporting arena and she was forced to retire.

As a result for the next few years she threw herself into her work.

"I had joined the police force after the Atlanta Games and after I retired I sort of treated work like I did athletics," she said. "I just threw myself into it."

Currey and her husband Andrew, who is also an Olympian, moved their family to Port Macquarie from Moree in 2012 after a short visit and she joined the town's police force as a detective.

She said she often laments on her athletic career and despite her hardships wouldn't change a thing.

"I don't think I ever threw as far as I could have," she said. "But as far as Sydney, I wouldn't change the experience at all.

"Going through that I learnt so much about myself."