Marcus's Story
Marcus Faulks from Culburra Beach on the NSW South Coast, was a talented athlete who represented Australia in both kayaking and gymnastics.
Faulks was an emergency reserve for the men's kayak pair at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and he then competed in men's gymnastics at the Tokyo 1964 Games.
He was a gymnast since he was 12 years of age, but when he was accepted into teachers college, one of his lecturers was a kayak coach. As one of the members of the kayak pair was seriously injured six months before the Olympics, the position was offered to him. He then trained six hours a day, five days a week. He only had one day of rest, Saturday, and then competed all day Sunday.
After the Melbourne Olympics Faulks tried to balance both kayaking and gymnastics, but couldn't to the level he wanted, so he decided to focus his efforts on gymnastics.
After breaking his wrist in the trials for the 1960 Olympics, he reached his peak in 1964 and finally realised his gymnastics Olympic dream. He finished 108th out of 130 in the individual competition and was 16th out of 18 in the team competition.
