Victor Salvemini (15 August 1946 – 15 January 2020) was an Australian Paralympic athlete from Western Australia. As a wheelchair athlete, he competed in several sports including archery, basketball and track sprinting in the 1970s. A paraplegic, he lost the use of both his legs after a car accident in Fremantle, Western Australia in 1961 when he was 14 years old.

Early life and athletic career

Salvemini was the son of Italian migrants to Western Australia. He was introduced to wheelchair sport at the

Royal Perth Rehabilitation Hospital Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

in Shenton Park following his accident.

Paralympic Games

Salvemini competed in two

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

. At the

1972 Summer Paralympics The 1972 Summer Paralympics (german: Paralympische Sommerspiele 1972), the fourth edition of the Paralympic Games, were held in Heidelberg, West Germany, from 2 to 11 August 1972. The games ended 15 days before the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Mu ...

in Heidelberg, Germany he competed in archery, athletics and wheelchair basketball. In the 100 metres Para-Athletics (Wheelchair 3) event, he placed 13th. In archery, he finished 13th in the Men's Short Western Round Open and eighth in the Men's Short Western Round Team Open. The wheelchair basketball team finished eighth. He had been selected for the 1972 Heidelberg Games following his participation in the 1972 National Paraplegic and Quadriplegic Games in Sydney in archery (Short Western round) and athletics (100m Class 3 and 800m Open events). At the

1976 Summer Paralympics The 1976 Summer Paralympics (french: Jeux paralympiques d'été de 1976), branded as Torontolympiad – 1976 Olympiad for the Physically Disabled, was the fifth Paralympic Games to be held. They were hosted by Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from 4 t ...

in Toronto, he competed in wheelchair basketball as a forward. The team finished tenth out of 21 teams.

Commonwealth Paraplegic Games

Salvemini competed and medalled in two

Commonwealth Paraplegic Games The Commonwealth Paraplegic Games were an international, multi-sport event involving athletes with a disability from the Commonwealth countries. The event was sometimes referred to as the Paraplegic Empire Games and British Commonwealth Paraplegi ...

. At the 1970 Edinburgh Games, he won silver in archery. At the 1974 Dunedin Games, he won bronze in archery.

FESPIC Games

Salvemini competed at the 1977 Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled (FESPIC Games) in Sydney in wheelchair basketball.

National Archery Championships

Salvemini competed in several events in the National Archery Championships held in Perth in 1973.

Personal life

Salvemini trained as a wood turner and ran his own wood-turning business. He was a wooden model boat builder, has volunteered at

Fremantle Hospital Fremantle Hospital is an Australian public hospital situated on South Terrace in central Fremantle, southwest of Perth, Western Australia. It was formerly the major hospital in its region; however, with the opening of Fiona Stanley Hospital ...

, and was a distributor for the Fremantle Gazette newspaper. In October 1974 Salvemini married Jaquie Lloyd. He has participated in seven international work skills competitions – the Abilympics: Japan 1981; Hong Kong 1991; Perth 1995; Prague 2000; Japan 2007 (flag bearer at opening ceremonies); Seoul 2011. He died on 15 January 2020, aged 73.

Recognition

Salvemini was awarded a commendation in the Accessible Communities Awards for 2003 for outstanding contribution towards increasing community awareness and understanding of the needs of people with disabilities, organised jointly in Western Australian by the Disability Services Commission, the advocacy organisation People With DisAbilities WA Inc., and the Office of Seniors’ Interests and Volunteering.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salvemini, Victor 1946 births 2020 deaths Paralympic archers for Australia Paralympic athletes for Australia Paralympic wheelchair basketball players for Australia Archers at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair basketball players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Australian male wheelchair racers Athletes from Perth, Western Australia Australian people of Italian descent People with paraplegia FESPIC Games competitors Sportsmen from Western Australia