Roberto Marson

Roberto Marson (29 June 1944 – 7 November 2011) was an Italian multisport athlete who competed at the Summer Paralympics on four occasions and won a total of 26 Paralympic medals. He lost the use of his legs when a pine tree he was chopping down fell on his back.

He is included in Visa Paralympic Hall of Fame of the International Paralympic Committee.

Biography Marson made his first Paralympic appearance, representing Italy, in the second ever Games in Tokyo, Japan, in 1964. He competed in three different sports: athletics, wheelchair fencing and swimming. In athletics he won two gold medals and two silver medals, setting a new world record of 24.20 metres in the men's javelin C classification. He finished fourth in both of the freestyle swimming events in which he competed. In the individual fencing events Marson won silver in épée and sabre, but alongside compatriots Franco Rossi and Renzo Rogo he won a team épée gold medal and a team sabre bronze medal. His swimming golds all came on the same day as he won the 50 metres events for freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke. With Ferraris and Zanarotto he won a silver in team sabre and also won silver in the team épée alongside Loi and Rossi. In the individual épée, individual sabre and team épée events he retained his Paralympic titles, but his Italian team was beaten to the gold medal in the team sabre by Great Britain. He died in 2011 and in 2012 he was inducted into the International Paralympian Hall of Fame.