Graham Salmon

Education

Salmon was educated at Linden Lodge School where he gained O levels in History and English Language and Literature. He subsequently attended Worcester College.

Career

He competed at both the Summer Paralympic Games and the Winter Paralympic Games. Diagnosed with a tumour in his right eye at the age of three days, Salmon had to have an operation to remove lieutenant When an identical tumour was discovered in his left eye some weeks later, he underwent radiotherapy to have it repaired.

Apart from being left blind, Salmon was able to live a relatively normal life.

He gained support from the RNIB and managed to get a full qualification in computer programmning.Whilst his disability limited his career prospects, he was employed by Abbey National Building Society for a considerable number of years before his health failed. By 1982 Salmon had become a good athlete, and had met Mark Wheeller.

He now features as the central character in Wheeller"s stage production Graham – World"s Fastest Blind Manitoba! He was awarded the Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1989. Winter Paralympics

Salmon made his Paralympic Games début when he represented Britain at the 1976 Winter Paralympics in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden.

Entering in cross-country skiing, he competed in the short distance 10 km (category A), finishing 23rd (out of 28) with a real time of 1:10:58, and the middle distance 15 km (category A), finishing 23rd (out of 25) with a real time of 1:46:19.

He did not compete again at the Winter Games. Summer Paralympics

Salmon"s first participation in the Summer Paralympics came when he represented Britain at the 1980 Summer Paralympics in Arnhem, Netherlands. He competed in two events:

the 60m sprint (category A), where he finished 4th (out of 42) with a time of 7.86 - one hundredth of a second behind the bronze medal time. the high jump (category A), where he finished 8th (out of 20) with a jump of 1.25m.

Salmon participated for the third and last time in the Paralympic Games when he represented Britain at the 1984 Summer Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville and New New York

He competed in just one event, the 400m (B1 category). He ran with a time of 55.45 in the final, obtaining the bronze medal.

Achievements

• He set the world record for 100m by a blind man at the 1984 Summer Paralympics and won a gold medal in the B1 400 metres. He won the first heat comfortably with a time of 56.45, advancing to the semi-final, where he finished second with a time of 55.32.

Views

The eye didn"t stand up to the treatment, and he was left completely blind.