Martin Ralph (born 18 January 1960) is an Australian sprint canoeist who competed in the mid-1980s.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he was eliminated in the repechages of the K-2 500 m event. Subsequently, he began to coach with the VIS (Victorian Institute of Sport) and independently. Martin received the Australian Sports Medal from the Prime Minister and the Governor General for sporting achievement in the year 2000. Often asked if he won a gold medal Martin replies, "I didn't come first and I didn't come last but I got a real good look at the bloke who did!"
As a publicity stunt Martin busked in the City of Melbourne to raise sporting funds to represent Australia. Within 10 days of street performing "the hat was full" and Martin was on his way to the World Championships. Little did he know that this was to lead to a new career. In 1987 he retired from competition and started working full-time in the contemporary comedy rooms of Melbourne and Sydney alongside his coaching role with the Victorian Institute of Sport.
Since 1987, he worked as a comedian, master of ceremonies and motivational speaker expanding his work to develop quirky, unique stand-up comedy based around things that spin. He performed cowboy style spinning rope routines, unicycle feats and amazing yoyo routines, using traditional yoyos, high tech yoyos and even the manipulation of a yoyo that was not attached to the string.
During the 1990s and beyond, Martin spent years developing and building his own unique props including two of the largest spinning tops in the world. The largest spinning top was nearly one meter high, powered up to a speed of 2200 rpm using an electric drill, with over 60 small led globes installed in the top to emit a dazzling light display. A prolific inventor, Martin designed and built a gyroscope that self propels along a string set up to run safely through or over the audience.
Based in Riddells Creek, Martin has created a private museum featuring the greatest number of unique and collectable yoyos and spinning tops in Australia.
A yo-yo is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in the 17th century.
Haydn William Bunton was an Australian rules footballer who represented Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL), Subiaco in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), and Port Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) during the 1930s and 1940s.
Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, cricket and tennis are among the earliest organised sports in Australia. Sport has shaped the Australian national identity through events such as the Melbourne Cup and the America's Cup. Australia also holds the record for the largest attendance at a Rugby Union match with almost 110,000 spectators watching the Wallabies play the All Blacks in 2000.
Robert John Skilton is a former Australian rules footballer who represented South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Gary William Buckenara is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the Subiaco Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL).
Oleksandr Vasiliovych "Alex" Jesaulenko is a former Australian rules footballer and who played for the Carlton Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also served as a coach at both clubs.
Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards was an Australian rules footballer who played 250 games for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1941 and 1955. He captained the team from 1952 to 1955, including a premiership win in 1953. He later became a hotel manager and a highly prominent sports journalist in print, radio and television for more than 50 years, and he was known for his wit and vivacity.
Laurence John Nash was a Test cricketer and Australian rules footballer. An inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, Nash was a member of South Melbourne's 1933 premiership team, captained South Melbourne in 1937 and was the team's leading goal kicker in 1937 and 1945. In cricket, Nash was a fast bowler and hard hitting lower order batsman who played two Test matches for Australia, taking 10 wickets at 12.80 runs per wicket, and scoring 30 runs at a batting average of 15.
The AFL Grand Final is an Australian rules football match to determine the premiers for the Australian Football League (AFL) season. From its inception until 1989, it was known as the VFL Grand Final, as the league at that time was the Victorian Football League. Played at the end of the finals series, the game has been held annually since 1898, except in 1924. It is traditionally staged on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As the premier match of the AFL season, it attracts one of the largest audiences in Australian sport, regularly attracting a crowd of more than 100,000 and a television audience of millions.
Matthew Peter Campbell is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian and Australian Football Leagues (VFL/AFL) and is now a media representative for a sports betting agency.
Ian Harlow Stewart is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St. Kilda Football Club and Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He later coached South Melbourne and Carlton before returning to St. Kilda to serve as general manager.
Ivor Warne-Smith was an Australian footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League and for the Latrobe Football Club in the North-Western Football Union in Tasmania. During his time with Melbourne he won two Brownlow Medals, played in their 1926 premiership side, was captain-coach of the club and represented his state of Victoria on numerous occasions. Warne-Smith remained involved with the club for the rest of his life and was named in the Melbourne Football Club Team of the Century. He was also named in the Tasmanian Team of the Century. Warne-Smith fought in both World War I and World War II.
Percy Wells Cerutty was an Australian athletics coach in the 1950s and 1960s.
Dylan Martin Alcott, is an Australian former wheelchair tennis player, former wheelchair basketball player, radio host and motivational speaker. Alcott was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team, known colloquially as the Australian "Rollers". At the age of 17, he became the youngest Rollers gold medal winner, at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, and was the youngest to compete in the wheelchair basketball competition. In 2014, he returned to wheelchair tennis with the aim of participating at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, at which he won gold medals in the Men's Quad Singles and Doubles. He was named the 2016 Australian Paralympian of the Year due to his outstanding achievements at Rio.
Richard David Telford AM is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood and Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s, although he mainly played reserves. He went on to become as a leading Australian sport scientist and distance running coach. He was the first sport scientist employed by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).
Gymnastics Australia (GA) is the governing body for the sport of gymnastics in Australia.
David Webster is an Australian national champion rowing coxswain who steered Australian crews at six World Rowing Championships and won two world championship titles in 2010 and 2011.
Kevin Richard Coombs was an Australian wheelchair basketballer and athlete who competed at 5 Paralympics including the first Paralympic Games in 1960. He was the first Australian Aboriginal Paralympic competitor for Australia.
Matthew Anthony "Matt" Haanappel, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He was born in Wantirna, Victoria and resides in the far eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He has cerebral palsy right hemiplegia. Haanappel has represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships, the 2014 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships, the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He represents the Camberwell Grammar School Aquatic club.
The history of sport in Australia dates back to the pre-colonial period of the country.