Don Elgin

Elgin was born on 19 December 1975 in the Victorian town of Donald.[1][2] He was born without a left leg and a left thumb, with small toes, and webbed fingers on both hands; his malformed left foot was amputated shortly after he was born and he had open heart surgery at the age of three.[3][4] He was raised in the New South Wales town of Tocumwal,[1] and competed in athletics and swimming as a teenager.[2] He lives in Melbourne with his wife, three daughters and a son.[1][2] He is the Founder and Managing Director of StarAmp Global, a boutique management company that specialises in managing and supporting paralympic competitors.[5][6] He also works as a motivational speaker both in Australia and around the world.[7]

Elgin first participated in sports for people with disabilities at the 1990 New South Wales Amputee Championships.[4] His first international competition was the 1994 IPC Athletics World Championships in Berlin, where he won a gold medal in the 4x100 m relay and a bronze medal in the high jump.[2] He participated without winning any medals at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics[8] and came fourth in the pentathlon at the 1998 IPC Athletics World Championships in Birmingham.[2] At the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, he won a bronze medal in the Men's Pentathlon P44 event.[8] At the 2002 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lille, he won two silver medals in the pentathlon and 4x400 m relay and a bronze medal in the 4x100 m relay.[2] At the 2004 Athens Paralympics, he won a silver medal in the Men's 4x400 m T42–46 event and two bronze medals in the Men's 4x100 m T42–46 and Men's Pentathlon P44 events.[8] He came sixth in the pentathlon at the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships, where he was the Australian flag-bearer at the opening ceremony,[9] and commentated at that year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.[2][10] He retired from para-athletics in 2008, but made a comeback in 2013 after learning that the sport would be included in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He came eighth in the Men's Discus Throw F42/44 at the games.[9]

He was coached by Roy Boyd, Cath Woodruff, John Eden, De Jennings, and Peter Negropontis. He held a scholarship from the Victorian Institute of Sport for 12 years.[1] He is the team manager for the Australian Paralympic Athletics Team.[1]

In 2000, Elgin received an Australian Sports Medal for "service to amputee sport", in particular "development of junior athletes and track and field".[11] In November 2018, he was awarded the Victorian Institute of Sport Frank Pyke Achievement Award.

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  Australian athlete Don Elgin receives support from an official at the completion of one of the events in the pentathlon at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games
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  Close up of Elgin looking upwards during track competition at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
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  Elgin competing in the pentathlon at the 1996 Atlanta Paralympic Games
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  Elgin throwing the shot put at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Don Elgin.

• Don Elgin's website
• StarAmp Global
• Don Elgin – Athletics Australia Results