John Martin

John Martin (born 1943) is an Australian Paralympic archer, 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 in 1943, as the youngest of three children. His father was a carpenter, aircraft mechanic and keen soccer 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. 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. 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, and he lives in the Brisbane suburb of Birkdale. 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, he won a silver medal in the Men's St. Nicholas Round Team open event. He participated in the 1966 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games in Kingston, Jamaica, 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 in Edinburgh, and equalled the world record in the 100 m at the 1970 Australian National Championships in Melbourne, 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.