Antonio Jesús Martín Gaitán (born 22 April 1982) is a Spanish 5-per-team footballer. He has a vision impairment and is a B1 type sportsperson. He has represented Spain at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympic ...

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

and

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

, picking up a pair of bronze medals in 2004 and 2012.

Personal

Martín was born on April 22, 1982, in

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

. He is completely blind and is a B1 type sportsperson. He is nicknamed 'El Niño'. In 2005, Martín attended university and studied business. In 2013, he was awarded the bronze Real Orden al Mérito Deportivo.

5-a-side football

In 2005, Martín played in the domestic championship where his team finished first. He repeated the performance in 2006. Playing for ONCE Málaga in 2005, his team were runners up in their league.

National team

At the Portuguese-hosted 1999 European Championships, Martín's Spanish national team finished first. In Spain at the 2000 World Championships, his team finished third . In Brazil at the 2002 World Championships, his team finished second. At the British-hosted 2003 European Championships, his team finished first and he was the competition's leading goal scorer. He played 5-a-side football at the

. His team finished third after they played Greece and, won 2–0. At the Spanish-hosted 2005 European Championships, his team finished first. That year, Martín was named by UEFA as the top player on the continent. At the time, he had 46 total caps for Spain. In 2006 at the Argentine-hosted World Championships, his team finished fourth. In 2007, he competed at the European Championships where his team finished first. That year, he also competed in the World Championships, where his team finished third. He represented Spain at the

where his team finished just out of the medals in fourth place. In 2009, he competed at the European Championships where his team finished third. He represented Spain at the 2010 World Championships, where he was the competition's leading scorer. In 2011, he represented Spain in the Turkey-hosted European Championships. His team was faced Turkey, Russia and Greece in the group stage. He played 5-a-side football at the

. In the team's opening game against Great Britain, he scored his team's only goal in a 1–1 draw. His team finished third after they played Argentina and, won 1–0. He scored the team's winning goal against Argentina in a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

. The game was watched by

Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo (Elena María Isabel Dominica de Silos de Borbón y de Grecia; born 20 December 1963) is the first child and eldest daughter of Juan Carlos I (King of Spain from 1975 to 2014) and Queen Sofía of Spain, and third ...

and President of the

Spanish Paralympic Committee Spanish Paralympic Committee ( es, Comité Paralímpico Español, CPE) is a Spanish non-profit sport organisation founded in 1995, that oversees five national disability sport federations. The organisation has a Secretary General and a President ...

. Martín was a member of the national team in 2013 and competed in the European Championships. The team faced Russia, Greece and France in the group stage. His team won their opener against Russia. His team went on to defeat France and finish first in the competition.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Antonio Jesus 1982 births Living people Paralympic 5-a-side footballers for Spain Paralympic bronze medalists for Spain Paralympic medalists in football 5-a-side Visually impaired category Paralympic competitors 5-a-side footballers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics 5-a-side footballers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Málaga