Michael Milton

Olympic medal record
Men's Paralympic Alpine Skiing
Gold	1992 Albertville, France	Slalom
Silver	1992 Albertville, France	Super-G
Bronze	1994 Lillehammer, Norway	Downhill
Bronze	1994 Lillehammer, Norway	Super-G
Gold	1994 Lillehammer, Norway	Giant Slalom
Silver	1994 Lillehammer, Norway	Slalom
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Downhill
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Super-G
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Giant Slalom
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Slalom
Silver	2006 Turin, Italy	Downhill

Michael John Milton, OAM (born 21 March 1973, Canberra) is an Australian Winter Paralympic skier and cyclist. He lost a leg to bone cancer when he was nine years old. He grew up into a skiing family, and after losing his leg he was determined to be able to ski again.

Career

At the age of 14, he competed in the 1988 Winter Paralympics in Innsbruck, Austria. There he achieved a 12th in the slalom, an 11th in the Giant Slalom and an 18th in the downhill. In the 1992 Winter Paralympics in Albertville, France, Michael picked up gold medal in the Slalom, which was the first winter Olympic gold for Australia, Winter Paralympics or Winter Olympics. He also got silver in the Super G. From there on he got a medal in every event he competed in at every Winter Paralympics.^{[citation needed]} In January 1996, he won a gold, silver and bronze medal at the World Skiing Championships held in Australia.^[1] At the 2002 Winter Paralympics, he won every skiing event.

Since then, the rules for his category have changed. From 2006 onwards, his category included anyone who could stand, whereas previously it had been people with only one leg. The 2006 Winter Paralympics were his last. In his career he has won 11 Paralympics medals (6 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze). His appearance at the 2006 Winter Paralympics was his fifth and final one, after which he focused more fully on speed skiing.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2005, he was the first person with a disability to break the 200 kilometres per hour mark with a speed of 210.4 km/h. He then aimed to beat the Australian open record of 212.26 km/h, set in 1997 by able-bodied athlete Nick Kirshner.^[2] On 19 April 2006, he became the fastest Australian speed skier - able-bodied or disabled - after setting a world record at 213.65 km/h in France.^{[citation needed]}

On 12 July 2007, it was announced on Sports Tonight that Michael has been diagnosed with oesophagal cancer. He had a six centimetre tumour removed from his throat and is now in remission. Less than a year later, he was selected for the Beijing Paralympics, his first Summer Paralympics, as a cyclist.^[3]

References

1. ^ Australian Paralympic Federation (1997). "1996 - Highlights of the Year in Review". Australian Paralympic Federation Annual Report (Australia: Australian Paralympic Federation): 8. 
2. ^ "Michael Milton - is there anything this man can't do?" - Australian Alpine News, Early Season 2006.
3. ^ "Ski Star Milton to cycle in Beijing". The Age. http://news.theage.com.au/sport/ski-star-milton-to-cycle-in-beijing-20080606-2mnj.html. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 

Notes

• "The Brave and the Bold" Alpha magazine, February 2006.

External links

• Michael Milton web site
• Speed king on one leg

Persondata
Name	Milton, Michael
Alternative names
Short description	Australian Paralympic skiier and racing cyclist
Date of birth	21 March 1973
Place of birth	Canberra, Australia
Date of death
Place of death