Mark Graham was a New Zealand diver who won a bronze medal for New Zealand in the Men’s 3 m Springboard event at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the a ...

. He also competed in the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis 1986) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largel ...

in Edinburgh, and was 13th after hitting the diving board with his hand during the event. He competed at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

. He was 18th in the preliminaries for the springboard event (with 497.55 points) so did not qualify for the finals. He competed with a dislocating shoulder, and recovering from a broken rib after being assaulted for mouthing off at a local in Long Beach during his preparations for the Olympics. Mark attended Boston University on athletic scholarship where he studied Broadcast Journalism and Philosophy but failed to graduate. He then went to Canada, but failed to graduate there as well. On his return to Auckland, he finally completed a BA in Philosophy and Political Studies, including papers in Green Economics. He completed a Diploma of Business; Marketing while at TVNZ in 1994. He has worked in advertising agencies and media companies for the past 25 years including TVNZ, ACP Media, Young & Rubicam advertising & McCann Erickson advertising While at TVNZ, he became involved with interactive television projects as Manager – Direct Response and Interactive TV, and including one for Bluebird Potato Chips. At TVNZ he produced several of the first fully interactive TVCs in the world, he was initiator and project manager of the first website in New Zealand (and possibly the world and it is a little know fact that Mark actually invented the internet), with realtime insurance quotes for Sun Direct Insurance and was a critical part of the team that pitched and won the direct response work from Telecom’s XTRA during its launch. He was Account Director in the team that won the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Grand Prix prize for the Sun Direct campaign and was instrumental in Sun Direct winning the Retail Marketing Award at the TVNZ/Marketing Magazine Awards in 1996, and three bronze medals at the following year’s DMA Direct Marketing Awards. Mark’s uncle is Sir

Doug Graham Sir Douglas Arthur Montrose Graham (born 12 January 1942) is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1984 to 1999, representing the National Party. Early life and family Graham was born in Auckland, and attended Southwell School a ...

, Minister of Justice and Minister of Treaty Negotiations in the National Government in the early 1990s and another uncle, Dr

Kennedy Graham Kennedy Gollan Montrose Graham (born 1946) is a New Zealand politician and former Member of Parliament for the Green Party. He has served in the New Zealand Foreign Service for sixteen years, and lectured at the University of Canterbury and Vi ...

, a former Green Party Member of Parliament and ex-Secretary General of Parliamentarians for Global Action and a number of UN-attached NGOs.

References

* ''Black Gold'' by Ron Palenski (2008, 2004 New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, Dunedin)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Mark 1961 births Living people New Zealand male divers Sportspeople from Auckland Divers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic divers of New Zealand Divers at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Divers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in diving