John Martin (born 1943) is an Australian

Paralympic archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

, athlete, table tennis player, wheelchair basketballer and wheelchair fencer who won three silver medals at five Paralympics. He was born in England and emigrated to Australia with his family at the age of 13.

Personal

Martin was born in the English town of

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

in 1943, as the youngest of three children. His father was a carpenter, aircraft mechanic and keen

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player and his mother was a homemaker. While in England he attended The Crescent Primary School and Toynbee Road Secondary Boys School, where he played soccer and cricket and was a cross-country runner. He moved with his family to Australia in 1956 at the age of 13; they emigrated there due to Martin's sister's

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...

. They moved to the Sydney suburb of Riverstone where he attended Richmond High School. He left school at the age of almost fifteen to work at a timber yard with his father. In November 1961, aged 18, he contracted

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

. He married his first wife, Robyn (née Torrington) in 1967, who was part of a group of people who put on functions to raise money for people with paraplegia; they divorced in 1980. He has three children, two sons and a daughter, and six grandchildren. He worked at 3M from 1973 to 1998, eventually becoming a warehouse manager. In 1998 he moved from Sydney to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, and he lives in the Brisbane suburb of

Birkdale Birkdale is an area of Southport, within the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, though historically in Lancashire, in the north-west of England. The area is located on the Irish Sea coast, approximately a mile away from the centre of S ...

Career

Martin began playing wheelchair sport during rehabilitation, and soon excelled at table tennis, defeating the New South Wales champion. At the

1964 Tokyo Paralympics The , originally known as the 13th International Stoke Mandeville Games and also known as Paralympic Tokyo 1964,

, he won a silver medal in the Men's St. Nicholas Round Team open event. He participated in the

1966 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games The second Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica from 14 to 20 August 1966. There were 133 athletes from 10 countries. The Games were opened by Prince Philip. Participating nations The following nations participated at ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

, where he won three gold, four silver and two bronze medals. At the 1968 Tel Aviv Paralympics, he participated in athletics, table tennis, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair fencing, winning two silver medals in the Men's Slalom B and Men's 4x40 m Relay open events. He won several medals at the

1970 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games The Third Commonwealth Paraplegic Games was a multi-sport event that was held in Edinburgh, Scotland from 26 July to 1 August 1970. Dubbed the "little games", they followed the 1970 British Commonwealth Games which were held in Edinburgh from 16 ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, and equalled the world record in the 100 m at the 1970 Australian National Championships in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, the qualifying event for the Edinburgh games. At the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics, he severely cut his hand during a wheelchair basketball game, which virtually ended his campaign; apart from wheelchair basketball, he participated in athletics events at the games, but did not win any medals. He won three gold and two silver medals in the

1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games The fourth Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were held in Dunedin, New Zealand from 13 to 19 January 1974. The Games were opened by Sir Denis Blundell, Governor-General of New Zealand. Participating nations The competing countries and competitors ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

. He went to each

Stoke Mandeville Games Stoke is a common place name in the United Kingdom. Stoke may refer to: Places United Kingdom The largest city called Stoke is Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. See below. Berkshire * Stoke Row, Berkshire Bristol * Stoke Bishop * Stok ...

from 1974 to 1981 and won gold medals in the pentathlon in 1974 and 1975. In 1975, he won five gold and three silver medals at the first

FESPIC Games The FESPIC Games or the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled, was a multi-sport event in Asia and the South Pacific region which is considered to be a precursor to the Asian Para Games, as two of its edition games in 1999 (7th) and ...

in Japan. That year, he was the first person in a wheelchair to compete in Sydney's City2Surf race; the organisers did not allow him to participate in the previous two events because they did not think he could complete the course. He equalled the world record in the 1500 m event at the 1976 Australian National Championships, the qualifying event for the 1976 Toronto games. He was the captain–coach of the wheelchair basketball team at the games and also participated in athletics and table tennis events. He was the captain of the Australian team at the 1977 Stoke Mandeville Games where he won a gold medal in the slalom event, a silver medal in lawn bowls and a bronze medal in wheelchair basketball. He also participated in the second FESPIC Games in Sydney in that year. At the 1980 Arnhem Paralympics, he participated in athletics and table tennis events. The 1981 Stoke Mandeville Games was his last international event, but he continued to play wheelchair basketball for the New South Wales team until 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, John Paralympic archers of Australia Paralympic athletes of Australia Paralympic table tennis players of Australia Paralympic wheelchair basketball players of Australia Paralympic wheelchair fencers of Australia Australian male archers Australian male fencers Archers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair fencers at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Table tennis players at the 1980 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) FESPIC Games competitors Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors People with polio Paralympic wheelchair basketball coaches Paralympic coaches of Australia Coaches at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Australian male wheelchair racers People from Eastleigh English emigrants to Australia Athletes from Sydney Athletes from Brisbane People from Redland City 1943 births Living people