Don Elgin

Don Elgin is a Paralympian who is well known and much loved for his larrikin, down-to-earth nature and highly respected for his many achievements on and off the field. He represented Australia in the athletics at four World Championships, three Paralympic Games, two World Cups and a Commonwealth Games.

A country boy from Victoria, Don was born without the lower half of his left leg but this didn’t stop him from developing a passion for sport. He first represented his country at the age of 18 then spent twenty years as an elite athlete, coming out of retirement to compete in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and making the final in the Discus.

These days Don travels the world as a sought-after motivational and after-dinner speaker whose positive approach to life appeals to all audiences and ages. Don takes his audiences behind the scenes of his extraordinary journey from little bush battler to world-beater and shares his real-life practical strategies to get the most from every day.

More about Don Elgin:

One of the longest serving scholarship holders at the Victorian Institute of Sport, Don Elgin competed in the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games where he won bronze in the Pentathlon. Two years later he finished with a Silver medal at the 2002 IPC World Championships. At the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games he became a triple Paralympic medalist winning one Silver and two Bronze.

A true leader, Don was the Australian flag bearer at the 2006 World championships and went on to become the Track and Field team manager for the Australian team at London 2012 Paralympic games. He made a successful return to sport to compete at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

As a respected voice on sport both on and off the track, Don commentated at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and appeared on Andrew Denton’s ABC TV show Enough Rope. He was the inaugural patron of Disability Professionals Victoria. He is also a former president of Sandringham Athletics Club and former vice President of The Amputee Association of Victoria. Don is a founding board member for the Start Foundation, the inaugural ambassador for New Horizons Club and a current board member for Wallara Australia Ltd.

In 2015, Don added author to his credentials releasing his first book called One Foot On the Podium, which won a Silver medal at the 2016 Independent Publisher Book Awards Australia/New Zealand – best regional non-fiction. Don completed the Kokoda Trail twice and in 2016 released his second book called One Foot Beyond the Podium.

Don is also the founder and director of StarAmp Global, a boutique company managing some of Australia’s finest amputee talent. He is also the creator of Star Leadership, a horizontal leadership model that improves performance by focussing on culture and behaviours of teams and individuals.

Don Elgin talks about:

Don is living proof that with the right attitude, anything is possible. Having excelled in elite sport and mixed with some of the biggest names in the film industry, business and leadership, he creates powerful, tailor-made presentations based on his real-life experience.

Don’s approach to life has clients walking away with a spring in their step at the end of every presentation. He is upbeat and makes no secret of the fact that he considers himself the happiest bloke alive. And he can’t wait to share his real-life, practical strategies to get the most from every day. His message is one for all ages.

Don leaves his audiences in no doubt as to why he is so highly regarded as a speaker and presenter in Australia and internationally.