Alain Marion (sport shooter)
{{short description|Canadian fullbore shooter (died 2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Alain Marion
| image = Alain_Marion_portrait.jpg
| alt = A man in sunglasses, wearing a dark blue blazer with a maple leaf on the breast pocket, leaning on the muzzle of a cannon.
| caption =
| nickname =
| nationality = Canadian
| birth_date = 1946–1947
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|06|24|1947|06|24}}{{sfn|The Ottawa Citizen, July 8, 2023}}
| death_place = Plaisance, Quebec
| height =
| weight =
| years_active =
| country = Canada
| sport = Sport shooting
| rank =
| event = Fullbore target rifle
| coach =
| highestranking =
| pb =
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalCountry | {{CAN}} }}
{{MedalSport | Shooting }}
{{MedalCompetition|Commonwealth Games}}
{{MedalGold|1986 Edinburgh|Fullbore pairs}}
{{MedalSilver|1998 Kuala Lumpur|Fullbore pairs}}
{{MedalSilver|1998 Kuala Lumpur|Fullbore Queen's Prize individual}}
| updated = September 23, 2023
}}
Alain Marion (1946 or 1947 – June 24, 2023) was a French Canadian sport shooter. He competed in the discipline of fullbore target rifle (TR), and won three Commonwealth Games medals, including gold in the 1986 fullbore pairs. He set the record score for the Sovereign's Prize twice, and was the second shooter to win it three times.
Life
Marion was the son of Noël Marion and Adèle Létang,{{sfn|The Ottawa Citizen, July 8, 2023}} and began shooting at the age of twelve. An early mentor was Gerry Ouellette, a gold medallist in the 1956 Olympic Games: Marion later recounted that Ouellette's first response to his request for advice was to hand him a box of 5,000 cartridges, telling him to return when he had fired them all. Ouellette gave Marion a rifle and drove him to his early shooting matches. Marion was first selected to represent Canada at the age of twenty.{{sfn|The Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 1998}}
Marion was part of the winning Canadian teams in the 1972 and 1982 World Long Range Championships.{{sfn|The Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 1998}} He was capped three times for Canada in the Commonwealth Games.{{sfn|The Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 1998}} Along with William "Wilf" Baldwin, he won the gold medal in the fullbore pairs event at the 1986 Games, held in Edinburgh,{{sfn|Los Angeles Times July 29, 1986}} with a score of 583 out of 600.{{sfn|Groom|2017|p=287}} For the 1998 games, in Kuala Lumpur, technical difficulties forced him to use his second choice of rifle:{{sfn|The Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 1998}} he and Jim Paton placed second with a score of 298 out of 300.{{sfn|Groom|2017|p=287}} In the same games, Marion placed second in the individual Queen's Prize with a score of 396 out of 400.{{sfn|Groom|2017|p=286}} In 2002, he was a coach for the Canadian shooting team at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.{{sfn|Commonwealth Sport Canada: Media Guide|p=301}} He won the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association's fullbore championships twelve times, a record {{as of|2023|lc=y}}. He won the Canadian Grand Aggregate ten times, also a record, and the Governor General's Prize five times.{{sfn|National Rifle Association Journal, Autumn 2023}}
Marion was capped forty-two times in the Canadian team for the Imperial Meeting at Bisley in the United Kingdom, more than any other shooter.{{sfn|"Alain Marion C.M.", Dominion of Canada Rifle Association}} At Bisley, he won the Queen's Prize in 1980, 1983 and 1996, placing second in 1972 and third in both 1987 and 1990.{{sfn|National Rifle Association Journal, Autumn 2023}} His score of 294 out of 300 in 1980 was, at the time, a record;{{sfn|"The King and Queen's Prize", National Rifle Association}} Marion had previously jointly set a record of 293 with the British shooter Dick Rosling in 1972, but lost to Rosling in a tie shoot.{{sfn|Sunday Mercury, July 27, 1980}} Marion won the Grand Aggregate in 1990, having previously placed second in 1973 and 1980. He placed in the top hundred of the Queen's Prize and the top fifty of the Grand Aggregate sixteen times apiece, both a record for a non-British competitor {{as of|2023|lc=y}}.{{sfn|National Rifle Association Journal, Autumn 2023}} After Arthur Fulton, who won in 1912, 1926 and 1931, he was the second shooter to win the Sovereign's Prize three times: {{as of|2023|lc=y}}, no shooter has surpassed this total.{{sfn|"The King and Queen's Prize", National Rifle Association}} He won over twenty Canadian provincial championships.{{sfn|"Mr. Alain Marion", The Governor General of Canada}} He also won a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championship.{{sfn|"Alain Marion C.M.", Dominion of Canada Rifle Association}}
The British National Rifle Association described Marion as "one of the greats in the world of TR".{{sfn|National Rifle Association Journal, Autumn 2023}} On October 25, 1991, he was awarded membership of the Order of Canada.{{sfn|"Mr. Alain Marion", The Governor General of Canada}} He worked as a police officer in Hull, Quebec,{{sfn|The Windsor Star, July 26, 1971}} and was married to Francine Vadnais, with whom he had one daughter.{{sfn|The Ottawa Citizen, July 8, 2023}} When interviewed in 1998 about the reasons for his shooting success, he said "I just kept doing it and it worked".{{sfn|The Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 1998}}
References
{{reflist|20em}}
Bibliography
{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
- {{cite web| title=Alain Marion C.M.| publisher=Dominion of Canada Rifle Association| website=Hall of Fame| url=https://www.dcra.ca/hall-of-fame?pgid=kl9oo523-3752a1e7-73af-492d-b402-7a9d9972168b&fbclid=IwAR0PzurC_iWEjIlp9Su-5THfT2FNsRzYERhj6TFVRrlxxwDRQ1F9gtnoHfE| access-date=2023-09-23| ref={{sfnRef|"Alain Marion C.M.", Dominion of Canada Rifle Association}}}}
- {{cite journal| title=Alain Marion GM3, GC, SM, SB, SC2|journal=National Rifle Association Journal|date=Autumn 2023|year=2023|volume=E| number=3| page=56|ref={{sfnRef|National Rifle Association Journal, Autumn 2023}}}}
- {{cite news| date=1980-07-27| title=Canadian Bull's-Eye!| newspaper=Sunday Mercury| page=52| ref={{sfnRef|Sunday Mercury, July 27, 1980}}}}
- {{cite news| author-last=Cleary| author-first=Martin| date=1998-09-12| title=Still on Target| newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen| page=F4|ref={{sfnRef|The Ottawa Citizen, September 12, 1998}} }}
- {{cite news|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|title=Commonwealth Games: Thompson Gives Gold Shoulder to the Officials: He Wins Third Straight Decathlon Title, Then Throws Away the Sponsor's Bib| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-07-29-sp-19726-story.html| access-date=2023-09-23|date=July 29, 1986|ref={{SfnRef|Los Angeles Times July 29, 1986}}}}
- {{cite book|last=Groom| first=Graham| year=2017| title=The Complete Book of the Commonwealth Games| publisher=Lulu Press}}
- {{cite web |title=The King's and Queen's Prize |url=https://nra.org.uk/results/imperial-results-classifications/the-kings-and-queens-prize/ |website=National Rifle Association |access-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602022130/https://nra.org.uk/results/imperial-results-classifications/the-kings-and-queens-prize/ |archive-date=2 June 2022 |language=English |url-status=live|ref={{sfnRef|"The King and Queen's Prize", National Rifle Association}}}}
- {{cite web| title=Media Guide| publisher=Commonwealth Sport Canada| year=2006| url=https://commonwealthsport.ca/sites/default/files/docs/shooting_mg_2006.pdf| access-date=2023-09-23| ref={{sfnRef|Commonwealth Sport Canada: Media Guide}}}}
- {{cite news|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|date=2023-07-08|title=Marion, Alain| page=B10|ref={{sfnRef|The Ottawa Citizen, July 8, 2023}}}}
- {{cite web| title=Mr. Alain Marion| website=The Governor General of Canada| url=https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/146-3518?fbclid=IwAR2vG7GlQRlJdudg0NPNznIoSwJCBo6BAhjxKbxaZb-Ls9LZ5s6BbyIDAN8| access-date=2023-09-23|ref={{sfnRef|"Mr. Alain Marion", The Governor General of Canada}}}}
- {{cite news|newspaper=The Windsor Star| date=1971-07-26| title=Queen's Prize Rifle Event: Canadian Marksmen Outgunned| page=19|ref={{sfnRef|The Windsor Star, July 26, 1971}}}}
{{refend}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marion, Alain}}
Category:Canadian male sport shooters
Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada
Category:Commonwealth Games medallists in shooting
Category:Shooters at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
Category:Shooters at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
Category:Fullbore target rifle shooters
Category:Winners of the Sovereign's Prize