In the biggest competition of his career, the Tasmanian used the global arena to live out a 14-year boyhood dream and prove his doubters wrong with mother Gerry in the stands.

``I've put up with a lot of crap in my life. Just to prove to a lot of knockers in my life. I was a victim of bullying my whole life. I'd try to do things in high school and people were knocking me back,'' Hodgetts, 24, said after becoming a gold medallist with a 16.29-metre effort.

``It is the best day of my life, it's just like a Hollywood movie. I went through a storm, everyone was against me and now I've come out the champion.

``Seeing your flag up on a pole and (hearing) the Australian anthem is a thing that is priceless.

``It's been a very hard road and it was a hard competition and I had to show them what Tasmanians were made of.''

Hodgetts moved to Canberra 14 months ago to train under coach John Minns, who turned his career around ahead of his Paralympic debut.

The man they call ``The Hulk'' entered the F20 (intellectual disability) shot put as the red-hot favourite and took time to flex his muscles, but when he did, there was no holding him back.

The Newstead Harrier and world number one took three rounds to get going before he cleared his own world record twice, beating Sweden's Jeffrey Ige and current world champion Muhammad Zolkefli to glory by almost a metre despite suffering from inflammation in his throwing arm elbow.

``It was really painful. But I stuck through it, kept the plan and believed in myself,'' the ex-powerlifter said.

``I nearly killed myself with my elbows and I need to thank the medical team for putting me all back together.

``It fired me up. They reckoned they'd beat me, but that fired me up more and I thought I'd show them that I was the world record holder.

``I outdid these fellas because the 80,000 Poms were behind me. I smashed it and showed them how fit I was and why I am the world record holder.''

Tasmanian Institute of Sport director Paul Austin said it was a fantastic achievement for a man who had put so much into his sport.

London is the first-time intellectually disabled athletes have been able to compete at the Paralympics since the controversial expulsion of the Spanish men's basketball team, which won gold in Sydney in 2000.