Russell Mark

Russell Mark

Personal information
Full name	Russell Andrew Mark
Nationality	Australian
Born	(1964-02-25) 25 February 1964 Ballarat
Sport
Sport	Shooting
Medal record Representing Australia Men's shooting Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta Double trap 2000 Sydney Double trap Commonwealth Games 1990 Auckland Men's Trap - Pairs 2002 Manchester Double trap 2002 Manchester Double trap - Pairs 2006 Melbourne Double trap - Pairs 2006 Melbourne Double trap 2010 Delhi Double trap

Russell Andrew Mark, OAM (born 25 February 1964 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian Olympic Champion marksman and world-renowned clay target shooting coach specialising in the discipline of Trap. He won the Olympic gold medal in double trap at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He also won an Olympic silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He competed at six Olympic Games: 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012. The only Australian Summer Olympian to compete in more Olympiads is Andrew Hoy (seven).

His win at the Atlanta 1996 Summer Olympics gave him the distinction of being the inaugural shotgun competitor to win an individual gold medal in all four of the world's major International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) titles; the World Cup, the World Cup Final, the World Championship and the Olympic Games. Uniquely after the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics he also has a complete set of silver medals from all four of the world's major championships. This is an honour he solely shares with the legendary American female clay target shooter and six time Olympic medalist, Kimberley Rhode.

Mark is a dual World Individual Champion (1994 in Fagnano, Italy and 1997 in Lima, Peru) and also dual World Team Champion (1998 in Barcelona, Spain and 1999 in Tampere, Finland). He won a World Cup gold medal in Los Angeles, USA (1991) which was the first-ever ISSF World Cup individual victory by an Australian in any Shooting discipline. Mark also won World Cup gold medals in Lonato, Italy (1992); Munich, Germany (1994); Lima, Peru (1999); Sydney, Australia (2000); and Perth, Australia (2003). At the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Mark won a gold medal in men's Double Trap. He is a former Olympic and World Record holder.

Personal life

Mark was educated in Ballarat, Victoria, at the Brown Hill Primary School (1969 – 1974) and Ballarat East High School (1975 – 1981). He was the school captain in his final year. He completed a Degree of Business Studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (1982 – 1985).

In March, 1999 Mark opened a food, alcohol and gaming machine establishment operating under the name of "The Tigers Clubhouse" in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria. It is registered for commercial trading in the state of Victoria as a club. In 2012 he commenced a similar business, a licensed hotel, in Tarneit, Victoria trading under the identity of "Hotel 520".

In October, 1999 he formed a coaching and commercial clay target shooting entertainment business that originally offered services under the corporate identity of "Russell Mark Shooting". In 2002 it was renamed to "Corporate Shooting Stars" and from 2013 the business has traded under the title of "Go Shooting Pty Ltd" in Victoria and Queensland. In 2023 he sold licence agreements in both States and no longer owns or operates the commercial/entertainment division of the company.

Mark shares residency between Hoppers Crossing, Victoria and Surfers Paradise, Queensland.

Family

Russell Mark married an American born, fellow champion shooter, triple Commonwealth Games gold medallist and dual Olympian, Lauryn Mark on 17 March, 2004 at a surprise wedding ceremony on a beach in Hamilton Island, Queensland..

Parents: Brian William Mark (Born 17.11.1930 - Died 19.6.2009), Evelyn Joan Mark (Born 6.7.1931 - Died 11.4.2000)

Siblings: Geoffrey Ian Mark (Born 7.12.1954), David William Mark (Born 30.3.1956)

He has three children. Holly Anne Mark, Sierra Evelyn Mark and Indiana Todd Mark.

Competition shooting career

Mark's career included an individual Olympic gold and silver medal, 2 individual World Championships (twice runner-up), 6 World Cup Championships and 2 World Team Championships as well as 39 Australian Clay Target Association National Open Championships (current record holder). His first Open Australian Championship came in 1980 as a sixteen-year-old junior competitor in Perth where he also set a new Australian Open Record for consecutive hits. He had a streak of twenty consecutive years from 1988 to 2007 where he won at least one Australian Title each year.

In September 1992 at a major tournament in Tamworth, NSW, Mark became the first Australian to hit more than one thousand targets in succession. He finished the competition with 1177 hits in a row breaking his own Australian record set in January 1992 in Canberra of 859 consecutive hits. At the Geelong Clay Target Club in March, 1990 he hit 288 Double Rise targets in succession to create a new Australian Record that still stands at this time.

In 1997, he won the men's Double Trap World Championship in Peru with a new World Record.

In 2006, Mark competed at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games where he won a gold medal. He participated in the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, making the final and finishing 5th in Men's Double Trap. In 2010, he declared an intention to make the London 2012 Summer Olympics for his sixth and last appearance. On 7 June 2012, Mark was named in the Australian Olympic team.

He also competed at six Commonwealth Games (1990, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014). Mark competed in the open individual ISSF World Championships on 22 occasions: (1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014). This is a record for any Australian shotgun athlete.

Mark retired from international competition on September 14th, 2014 at the ISSF World Championship which was conducted in Granada, Spain.

Coaching career

Russell Mark is one of the world's most successful and sought after international trap shooting clay target coaches. He has trained competitors and national teams in a multitude of countries that include Great Britain, USA, Qatar, India, Thailand, Japan, Brunei, Singapore, Philippines, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Slovenia, Montenegro, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Kuwait and Italy.

In 2004, Mark served as part of the administrative support team at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics working for the Australian Olympic Committee as an Athlete's Liaison Officer as well as controversially taking the position as the personal coach to the Indian marksman Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore who went on to become India's first ever individual Olympic medalist by winning a silver medal.

In 2021 Mark created the highly successful online coaching YouTube Channel "Go Shooting Shotgun Coaching Videos" that now display over one hundred tutorials.

In April, 2022 he agreed on a one-year contract to be employed by the Sports Authority of India as the foreign trap shooting coach for the Indian Shotgun Team. He resigned from this position on May 28th, 2023, after successfully qualifying the Indian Trap Team for participation in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Mark started employment with the Qatar Olympic Committee on July 5, 2023 as the coach of the National Trap Shooting Team for the remainder of the 2023 international season. On October 30th, 2023 Mark successfully gained Qatar entry into the Men's Trap event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games after they won a starting quota place at the 15th Asian Shooting Championships held at Changwon, South Korea which was the last major title of the year. The following day he sensationally announced he was retiring immediately as the Qatar National Coach.

On March 6th, 2024, Shooting Australia announced that Mark would become the consultant Trap coach of the Olympic Shotgun Squad for four months and would prepare them for the forthcoming 2024 Olympics in July. Mark achieved immediate international success with the Australian Team when they won the 2024 World Cup at Baku, Azerbaijan in the Men's Trap competition therefore gaining his athlete entry into the 2024 Olympic Games. In doing so he became the first national coach in the history of the International Shooting Sports Federation to be involved in qualifying three athletes from three different countries for entry into the Olympic Games in the one single Olympiad; India in 2022, Qatar in 2023 and finally Australia in 2024. He announced he would not be attending the 2024 Olympic Games with the Australian Shooting Team as he had made a prior commitment to work as a media commentator for the Australian Television Network, Channel 9.

Media Career

Mark worked for the Melbourne Radio Station, 3AW as a co-host on their weekend sports program from 1997 to 2002. From 2003 until 2016 he worked on ABC Radio in Melbourne on the Red Symons breakfast program as a sports presenter.

From 2001 until 2006 he worked for Channel 7, an Australian Television Network, on their national Sunday morning sports program, Sportsworld, as a co-host. He worked for Channel 9 as a television commentator at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. Mark again worked as a commentator for the Channel 7 Network at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics and at the 2020 (2021) Tokyo Summer Olympics. He has been employed by Channel 9 to commentate the Shooting events at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Mark was the National Ambassador and Master of Ceremonies for the telecommunications company, Telstra, at their State and National Australian Small Business Awards from 1997 to 2000.

He has written a monthly coaching and advice article for Australia's largest shooting sports publication, Australian Shooter, since 1998.

Honours

Mark has been a Global Ambassador for the world's leading firearm manufacturer, Beretta Italy, since 1986.

His home shooting range was the Werribee-Victorian Clay Target Club. Mark was made a life member of the club in 1996. He is also a life member of the Geelong Clay Target Club and the Melbourne Cricket Club Clay Target Section, a club where he was elected as the inaugural chairman.

He has been an ambassador to the Australian Football League team, Carlton, since 1997 and the number one ticket holder for the Werribee Football Club since 1993.

In 1997, Mark was honoured with the Order of Australia Medal for services to sport and the Australian Sports Medal in June 2000.

In August 2007, in Munich, Germany the International Shooting Sports Federation inducted him as the greatest double trap shooter of all time. This was an accolade he shared with fellow shotgun shooters Luciano Giovannetti (men's trap, from Italy), Kimberly Rhode (women's double trap and skeet, from USA), and Susan Nattrass (women's trap, from Canada).

In March 2009, Mark was inducted into the Australian Clay Target Association's Hall of Fame as the youngest member at the time.

In 2019, Mark was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. He is the second shotgun shooter so honoured. He was preceded by Donald Macintosh who titled at the Paris 1900 Summer Olympics..

The Australian Clay Target Association made Russell Mark a life member in March 2024.

Olympic results
Event	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012
Trap (mixed)	15th 144+47	9th 144+49	Not held
Trap (men)	Not held		13th 120	13th 113	—	—	—
Double trap (men)	Not held		Gold 141+48	Silver 143+44	—	5th 136+45	20th 128

External links

• Russell Mark's Profile pdf
• Russell Mark at ISSF
• Russell Mark at Olympedia
• Russell Mark at the Australian Olympic Committee
• Russell Mark at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
• Russell Mark at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
• Russell Mark at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games (archived)