Mark Davies Athlete
Mark Hedley Davies (30 June 1960 – 8 January 2011) was an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in Darwin, and was the first man to represent the Northern Territory in sport for the blind. He had a degenerative eye condition, and by 2000, he had lost all of his sight. He began his athletic career before the establishment of the Northern Territory Institute of Sport, so he had to organise all his training and transport independently. At the 1984 New York/Stoke Mandeville Games, he won two gold medals in the Men's 100 m B2 and Men's Pentathlon B2 events. He also competed in athletics without winning any medals at the 1988 Seoul, 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, and 2000 Sydney Games. In 2000, he received an Australian Sports Medal. He died on 8 January 2011 in Darwin, a week after the death of his wife. The Australian Paralympic Committee described him as "a genuine pioneer of the Australian Paralympic movement".
