Mark Hedley Davies (30 June 1960 – 9 January 2011) was an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in Darwin, and was the first man to represent the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

in sport for the blind. He had a degenerative eye condition that caused

tunnel vision Tunnel vision is the loss of peripheral vision with retention of central vision, resulting in a constricted circular tunnel-like field of vision. Causes Tunnel vision can be caused by: Eyeglass users Eyeglass users experience tunnel vision t ...

; he found it more difficult to compete in able-bodied sports as he got older, and by 2000, he had lost all of his sight. He began his athletic career before the establishment of the Northern Territory Institute of Sport, so he had to organise all his training and transport independently. In 1982 he joined the newly formed Northern Territory Blind Sports Association, and went on to win many medals and break Australian records at national blind sporting championships. At the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Paralympics, he won gold medals in the Men's Pentathlon B2, where he broke a world record, and the Men's 100 m B2. He also competed in athletics without winning any medals at the 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, and 2000 Sydney Games. He worked as an athletics coach, and assisted other blind sportspeople in the Northern Territory. In 2000, he received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

. He died in Darwin on 9 January 2011, a week after the death of his wife. The

Australian Paralympic Committee Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian tea ...

described him as "a genuine pioneer of the Australian Paralympic movement".

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Facebook memorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Mark 1960 births 2011 deaths Paralympic athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Paralympic athletes (track and field) with a vision impairment Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sportsmen from the Northern Territory Sportspeople from Darwin, Northern Territory Australian blind people Australian pentathletes Australian male discus throwers Australian male sprinters Visually impaired discus throwers Visually impaired sprinters Paralympic discus throwers Paralympic sprinters