Background
Blattman was born on 28 December 1958 in the New South Wales town of Narrandera.
Blattman was born on 28 December 1958 in the New South Wales town of Narrandera.
He attended Springwood High School, leaving the school in 1975 to take up an apprenticeship.
He became disabled after a motorbike accident. He started playing disabled bowls, before switching to athletics. A 1978 motorcycle accident left him a paraplegic.
Following the accident, he spent eighteen months in rehabilitation at the Mountain Wilga Rehabilitation Centre in Hornsby, New South Wales.
The house was retrofitted with a lift to enable him to reach his third floor bedroom. He played table tennis socially.
Bowls
In 1985, Blattman competed at the Royal North Shore Paraplegic Games in the bowls event. Athletics
Blattman started participating in wheelchair athletics to improve his general fitness level
At the 1988 Seoul Games, he came fifth in the first heat of the Men"s 200 m 1A – event.
He competed in the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1989 and 1990. In 2002, Blattman came in first in the T51 Quads event at the Arrive Alive Summer Down Under Wheelchair Track and Road Racing Series 10k event, with a time of 37.52. He competed at the 2010 Optus Grand Prix in Canberra in the Men & Women 5,000 metres wheelchair event, but he did not finish.
Blattman has held several world records in athletics.
These include:
1990: 4x100 and 4x400 m events at the 1990 Stoke Mandeville Games
1991: 1500 m
1995: 2:40.15 in the men"s T51 800 m event in Etobicoke, Canada on 25 June
1998: 05:01.49 in the 1500 m and 16:51.81 in the 5000 m at the Summer Down Under international wheelchair track meeting at Sydney International Athletic Centre on 28 January
1999: 16:46.95 in the 5000 m at the Summer Down Under international wheelchair track meeting at Sydney International Athletic Centre on 29 January
He had an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship from 1994 to 2000 in Athletics. His coach was Andrew Dawes, who has worked with Paralympic gold medalists Louise Sauvage and Greg Smith.