Graeme Marett was born in Dunedin in the late 1930’s and alongside Fr Leo Close and Bill Lean, was instrumental in the establishment of organised sport for disabled athletes.
Graeme was 21 when he was involved in a serious car accident, which left him paralysed. He always saw sport as a chance to keep his body and particularly his mind active and being in a wheelchair was no exception. With the support of Bill and Fr Leo, Graeme began training.
He was first selected to represent New Zealand at the 1968 Paralympic in Israel (the first Paralympic in history not to be held concurrently with the Olympics in Mexico City). Graeme competed in archery, athletics, swimming and table tennis, his strongest events were athletics and archery.
At the 1972 Paralympic Games I Germany, Graeme won a silver medal in discus and a Bronze in Pentathlon.
Graeme retired after the 1976 Paralympics but remained heavily involved in the local archery club. He passed away in 1999 at the age of 61 and the Dunedin Archery Club still run an event in memorial of him to this day
Admin Login