Michael Shelton is a British sportsman who competed at the Summer Paralympic Games five times between 1960 and 1976 in snooker and other sports. He won six Paralympic medals, four gold, a silver and a bronze. He also won gold at the 1974 Commonwealth Paraplegic Games.
Shelton was from Newstead, Nottinghamshire and had been a miner at Newstead Colliery. His back was injured in 1958 by a roof fall, and he was paralysed from the waist down. In 1969 he married Iris Turner, who had been a nursing sister on his ward when he was in hospital.
He played for the Lodge Moor Hospital paraplegic snooker team, which in 1974 was refused entry to the Sheffield and District Works Sports Association league, on the basis that they would gain unfair advantage from playing all of their fixtures at their home venue, apparently failing to acknowledge that the team would be unable to play at other venues with stairs or limited space around the tables. The team was subsequently given the chance to participate in the Sheffield Social Snooker League and play all their games at their own home base.
Paralympic career
In 1960, at the inaugural Paralympic Games in Rome, Shelton won a silver medal in the snooker, he had also competed in the precision javelin throw and shot put C where he finished 41st and 24th respectively in the events. He followed this up with three consecutive gold medals, at the 1964 Tokyo Paralympics, 1968 Tel Aviv Paralympics, and 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics.
At the 1976 Toronto Paralympics, Shelton won bronze in the Men's 2-5 Snooker, but took the gold medal in the lawn bowls, men's singles wh.
References
External links
Hero's welcome for Paralympic snooker champion Michael Shelton (1965)
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British coal miners English snooker players English male bowls players Wheelchair category Paralympic competitors Paralympic athletes for Great Britain Paralympic lawn bowls players for Great Britain Paralympic snooker players for Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in snooker Snooker players at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Snooker players at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Snooker players at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Snooker players at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Snooker players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Lawn bowls players at the 1976 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1964 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Paralympics English male javelin throwers English male shot putters Wheelchair javelin throwers Wheelchair shot putters Paralympic javelin throwers Paralympic shot putters