By Huw Beynon
It has been eight years since Peter Martin last checked in on his way to a Paralympics, and he says he is rearing to go.
“An old man gets excited about things occasionally, why not!”
With a record like Martin’s, why not indeed! With seven Paralympic medals – four of them gold – and 5 world records to his name, the motivation for more has returned.
“Having a challenge and a reason to do it is great. You can tick off all those little steps along the way. And when you achieve what you want to achieve, there's nothing better than that,” he says.
So can we expect more records and medals from the 50-year-old Waikato farmer?
“Records? Probably not. Medals? Yes, that’s my aim, that's what I'm going for.”
Twenty-three years ago Martin suffered a severe spinal injury in a farm bike accident, and since then sport has played a major role in his life.
“I got into sport to keep fit, to live a life that was worth living. Sport was a good way of doing that,” he says.
“Four Paralympics is a long way down the road from there.”
And while he admits getting back into training has at times been testing, he says watching the Olympics in London has got him excited.
“Yeah warm up event went pretty well, all the facilities looked good so we're hoping that the show will be the same for us.”
And some success in that show could cap off what would be the second greatest comeback of his life.
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