Russell Short

Background

Russell Luke Short was born on 7 May 1969 in the Victorian town of Poowong.

Education

He attended Korumburra Secondary College.

Career

He competes in discus, javelin, and shot put. He played many sports in high school, including swimming, diving, and basketball, but he could no longer participate in these sports as his sight gradually became more impaired. He took up discus and shot put because he found he enjoyed throwing things.

In 1993, he kayaked across the Torres Strait from Cape York to New Guinea as part of a team of four men, and also walked the Kokoda Track with them.

These experiences were recounted in the 1995 documentary The Blind Leading The Blind and the 2004 book Blind leading the blind: a journey of vision across the Torres Strait and Kokoda track. Short began his competitive career in 1982.

In 1988, he became the first disabled person to receive a scholarship from the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). In 1990, while being coached by AIS Throws Coach Merv Kemp, he broke the discus B2 world record twice.

He competed in the 1990 World Championships and Games for the Disabled, Assen, Netherlands winning gold medals in the Men"s Shot Put and Discus B3 events.

Six weeks before winning the bronze medal, he had fallen off a two-meter wall and broken his arm. Short carried the Australian flag during the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Games. At the Games, he came sixth in the Men"s Shot Put F11/12 event.

In a February 2011 interview shortly after the Championships, he said: "Things are starting to fall apart, particularly my shoulder, but with a lot of changes to the way I train and a lot of physio, I"m confident I"ll be right".

Achievements

• His first Paralympic Games were the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, where he won two gold medals in the Men"s Discus B3 and Men"s Javelin B3 events, and a bronze medal in the Men"s Shot Put B3 event. In the 1992 Barcelona Games, he won two gold medals in the Men"s Discus B3 and Men"s Shot Put B3 events, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia, and a bronze medal in the Men"s Javelin B3 event. In the 1996 Atlanta Games, he won two silver medals in the Men"s Discus F12 and Men"s Shot Put F12 events. He won two gold medals at the 2000 Sydney Games, setting a world record in the Men"s Discus Throw F12 event and a Paralympic Games record in the Men"s Shot Put F12 event. In the 2004 Athens Games, he won a bronze medal in the Men"s Shot Put F13 event and came fifth in the Men"s Discus F12 event. He won a silver medal in the Discus event at the 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand. At the 2012 London Paralympics, Short won a bronze medal in the Men"s Shot Put F11/12 event.

Views

Quotations: "Things are starting to fall apart, particularly my shoulder, but with a lot of changes to the way I train and a lot of physio, I"m confident I"ll be right".