Luke Cain (born 3 February 1980) is an SH2-classified Australian shooter who became a paraplegic after an accident while playing Australian rules football. He started competing in 2007, as the sport suited his disability, and has been a Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder since 2008. He first represented Australia internationally in 2009 at a World Cup event in South Korea. He has also represented Australia in two Paralympic Games including the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[1]
Personal
Cain was born on 3 February 1980 in Rosebud, Victoria.[2][3][4] He started playing Australian rules football when he was seven years old for the Rye Football Club. He played senior football for Rosebud Football Club as a full-forward.[5] In August 1999, at the age of nineteen, he was playing for Rosebud in a game against Hastings Football Club when he broke his neck after being sandwiched between a teammate and an opposing player.[5][6][7][8][9] He is a paraplegic,[5] and requires use of a wheelchair because of paralysis that affects him from the chest down. He has limited use of his fingers and no use of his hands.[7][8] Before his accident, he participated in a range of sports, including basketball, athletics, waterskiing, kneeboarding and wakeboarding.[5][9] After his accident, he continued in some sports, including angling.[3] As of 2012[update], he resides in Boneo, Victoria.[3][4]
Cain is an SH2-classified shooter competing in 10m air rifle prone and 10m air rifle standing events.[2] He has been a Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder since 2008,[6] and is a member of the Springvale Range Club.[2] He is coached by Miro Sipek as an individual and when on the national team.[3]
As a youngster, Cain hunted with his father and cousin.[5] He took up the sport of shooting because it was one of the few available to people with his physical limitations.[8] As of 2012[update], he was sponsored by Miall's Gun Shop of Frankston, Victoria, who provided him with competition gear including cleaning supplies, a rifle case and a rifle. He holds two world records, one in the individual 600–600 R4 prone event, and another in the R4 10-metre standing event.[8][10]
Cain started competing in 2007, and made the Australian national team the same year.[2][11] During Australia's 2009 domestic series, the Australia Cup, an invitation-only series for the top shooters in the country,[12] he earned a bronze, silver and gold medal.[2] That year, he made his national team debut at an international event when he represented Australia at the 2009 ISSF World Cup in South Korea.[9] By early 2010, he was looking for a sponsor to assist with costs for his international competitions.[11] He set a personal best of 598 out of 600 in the SH-2 prone air event at the 2010 World Cup in Germany, and not long after, set a new personal best when he shot 599 at the same event at the 2010 World Cup in France.[9][13] He came in first at the 2010 Oceania Shooting Federation Continental Championship.[8][11] At the 2010 IPC Shooting World Championships in Zagreb,[14] he came in first in the SH-2 prone air event by setting a world record of 600 points, a perfect score.[8][13] At the 2011 Great Britain International, he finished second in the 10m air rifle prone event.[2][15] He competed in the United States-hosted International Paralympic Committee World Cup in 2011,[6] finishing fourth in the R5 Air Rifle Prone event with a score of 599. He earned a gold medal in the team event with teammates Jason Maroney and Bradley Mark.[16] In 2012, he trained up to six days a week.[8] At the Australian nationals, he finished second in the prone event behind New Zealander Michael Johnson, and third in the standing event behind fellow Australian Bradley Marks and Johnson.[17]
Cain was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in Mixed R5-10m Air Rifle Prone-SH2 and Mixed R4-10m Air Rifle Standing-SH2 shooting events.[2][3][8][18][19] Competing on 3 September,[20] he did not medal, finishing 27th in the standing event and 28th in the prone event.[3][21]
Most recently Cain had represented Australia in the 2016 Rio Paralympics. He competed in the Mixed 10 m air rifle standing SH2 and the Mixed 10 m air rifle prone SH2.[22][23] Cain did not medal, placing 26th in the standing event and 33rd in the prone event.
^"APC". APC. Archived from the original on 22 September 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
^Niav Owens (23 July 2012). "Kosmala shoots for her 11th Games –". ABC News. Australia: ABC Grandstand Sport – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 25 July 2012.
.jpg)
