Roberto Marson

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Roberto Marson

| nickname =

| image = Roberto Marson.jpg

| imagesize =

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| nationality = Italian

| sport = Paralympic athletics
Paralympic swimming
Wheelchair basket
Wheelchair fencing

| event =

| club =

| coach =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1944|6|29}}

| birth_place = Pasiano di Pordenone, Italy

| residence =

| retired= 1982

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2011|11|7|1944|6|29}}

| death_place = Rome, Italy

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| country = {{ITA}}

| medaltemplates=

{{MedalCount|total=no

|Paralympic Games |16|7|3

}}

{{MedalGold|1968 Tel Aviv|{{nowrap|50 m breaststroke class 5}}}}

{{MedalSilver|{{nowrap|1972 Heidelberg}}|Sabre team}}

}}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.paralympic.org/roberto-marson |title=Roberto Marson |website=Paralympic.org |publisher=International Paralympic Committee |access-date= }} He lost the use of his legs when a pine tree he was chopping down fell on his back.{{cite news|title=Wheelchair Olympics Underway|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=A-weAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4mUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7220,2400701|accessdate=28 April 2011|newspaper=Sarasota Herald Tribune|date=7 November 1968}}{{cite web|url=http://www.comitatoparalimpico.it/showquestion.php?fldAuto=1500&faq=54 |title=CIP |publisher=Comitatoparalimpico.it |accessdate=2012-11-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920064536/http://comitatoparalimpico.it/showquestion.php?faq=54&fldAuto=1500 |archivedate=2012-09-20 }}

He is included in Visa Paralympic Hall of Fame of the International Paralympic Committee.{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/news/ipc-announces-visa-paralympic-hall-fame-inductees|title=IPC Announces Visa Paralympic Hall of Fame Inductees|publisher=paralympic.org|accessdate=8 September 2012}}

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.{{cite web|title=Results Tokyo 1964 Paralympic Games Athletics Men's Javelin C|url=http://www.paralympic.org/Sport/Results/results.html?eclass=C&sport=athletics&competition=1964PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Javelin|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|accessdate=28 April 2011}} 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.

File:IPC Hall of Fame induction 25.JPG during Summer Paralympics, Marson's daughter received the award Visa Paralympic Hall of Fame.]]

At the 1968 Summer Paralympics held in Tel Aviv, Israel, Marson was proclaimed the outstanding athlete of the Games after winning ten gold medals; three in athletics field events, three in swimming and four in wheelchair fencing.{{cite web|title=Tel Aviv 1968|url=http://www.paralympic.org/Paralympic_Games/Past_Games/Tel_Aviv_1968/index.html|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|accessdate=28 April 2011}} His swimming golds all came on the same day as he won the 50 metres events for freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke. In wheelchair fencing he won individual gold for épée, foil and sabre. He was joined by Giovanni Ferraris, Vittorio Loi, Franco Rossi and Germano Zanarotto to defeat France 5–4 in the final and win gold for Italy in the team foil.{{cite web|title=Results Tel Aviv 1968 Paralympic Games Wheelchair Fencing Men's Foil Team|url=http://www.paralympic.org/Sport/Results/results.html?eclass=&sport=fencing&competition=1968PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Foil%20Team|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|accessdate=28 April 2011}} With Ferraris and Zanarotto he won a silver in team sabre and also won silver in the team épée alongside Loi and Rossi. He successfully defended the Paralympic javelin and discus titles that he had won in Tokyo and added a third athletics gold medal in the club throw and a bronze in the shot put.

In 1972 at the Paralympics in Heidelberg, Marson contested a single athletics event and four wheelchair fencing events. He finished fourth in the men's discus 4 event with the gold being won by Canadian Eugene Reimer.{{cite web|title=Results Heidelberg 1972 Paralympic Games Athletics Men's Discus 4|url=http://www.paralympic.org/Sport/Results/results.html?eclass=4&sport=athletics&competition=1972PG&gender=m&discipline=&event=Discus|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|accessdate=28 April 2011}} 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.

Marson's final Paralympic Games came in 1976 in Toronto, Canada. He failed to win medals in either of his athletic events or the individual wheelchair fencing events, but did take a bronze medal in the men's team épée. He was President of Federazione Italiana Sport Handicappati from 1980 until 1990.{{cite web|title=La storia della CIP|url=http://www.coni.it/index.php?id=113|publisher=Comitato Italiano Paralimpico|accessdate=28 April 2011|language=Italian}} He died in 2011 and in 2012 he was inducted into the International Paralympian Hall of Fame. On 14 May 2021, Jovian asteroid 39795 Marson, discovered by astronomers at Spacewatch in 1997, was {{MoMP|39795|named}} in his memory.

References

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite web

|title = WGSBN Bulletin Archive

|work = Working Group Small Body Nomenclature

|date = 14 May 2021

|url = https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/index.html

|accessdate = 16 May 2021}} ([https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/V001/WGSBNBull_V001_001.pdf Bulletin #1])

}}

External links

{{sports links}}
[http://www.memoriaparalimpica.it/ViewDocument.aspx?docid=dcd8c52268fa403dbe76b3c00e845496 Roberto Marson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020044633/http://www.memoriaparalimpica.it/ViewDocument.aspx?docid=dcd8c52268fa403dbe76b3c00e845496 |date=2021-10-20 }} {{in lang|it}} at Memoria paralimpica
[http://www.inail.it/repository/ContentManagement/information/P2001055877/1JN5ND.pdf Il pioniere primo italiano nella Hall of Fame]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{in lang|it}}

Category:Italian male table tennis players

Category:Paralympic swimmers for Italy

Category:Paralympic athletes for Italy

Category:Swimmers at the 1964 Summer Paralympics

Category:Swimmers at the 1968 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Paralympics

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Paralympics

Category:Paralympic gold medalists for Italy

Category:Paralympic silver medalists for Italy

Category:Paralympic bronze medalists for Italy