Don Elgin

Donald James William Elgin (born 19 December 1975) is an Australian Paralympic amputee track and field athlete who won four medals at three Paralympics.

Personal Elgin was born on 19 December 1975 in the Victorian town of Donald. 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. He was raised in the New South Wales town of Tocumwal, He also works as a motivational speaker both in Australia and around the world.

Sports career

It started off in 1990. I went along to the NSW [New South Wales] amputee championships. It was the first time I had been exposed to a group of people who were missing bits. Missing arms, missing legs. My first reaction was Wow! Have a look at this, it's like freak show, all these people! Then about half an hour into it, it dawned on me that these people were just like me. Here was this level playing field I suppose I wanted and desired so much. — Don Elgin and came fourth in the pentathlon at the 1998 IPC Athletics World Championships in Birmingham. and commentated at that year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. 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. In November 2018, he was awarded the Victorian Institute of Sport Frank Pyke Achievement Award.

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