| Damir Martin | |
| Headercolor: | lightsteelblue |
| Nationality: | Croatian |
| Birth Place: | Vukovar, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia |
| Height: | 1.89 m |
| Weight: | 97 kg |
| Sport: | Rowing |
| Event: | Single sculls |
| Club: | VK Croatia |
| Medaltemplates: | |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Damir Martin (born 14 July 1988) is a Croatian rower. He is a three-time Olympic medallist and won silver medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, and a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics. Martin is also a two-time world champion (2010, 2013), a two-time European champion (2015, 2016), and a five-time World Rowing Cup champion. He is currently a member of rowing club VK Croatia, and has previously been a member of clubs Zagreb and Trešnjevka.
Martin was born in the city of Vukovar. He comes from a family of rowers, with his parents and grandfather being rowers, in addition to rowing being a traditional sport in Vukovar.[1] [2] At the age of three, Martin was forced to leave his hometown with his mother Dubravka and older brother Stanislav due to the Siege of Vukovar, while his father Boris stayed and fought. The family were reunited in Zagreb before moving to Austria for six months and eventually settling in Germany for four years. In 1995, the family returned to Zagreb. Martin was a swimmer for four years, before he began rowing at the age of 12. He joined the Croatian national rowing team at the age of 17.
Martin won his first senior international medal at the 2010 European Championships in the men's quadruple sculls event where he placed second with David Šain and brothers Martin and Valent Sinković. The quartet won their first World Championship title at the 2010 World Championships in Montemor-o-Velho. They placed third at the 2011 World Championships in Bled. The quartet won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the men's quadruple sculls event. Martin competed in the single sculls event at the 2012 European Championships in Varese where he finished second. Together with Šain and the Sinković brothers, Martin won a second World Championship title at the 2013 World Championships in Chungju.
After switching to single sculls, Martin won his first European Championship title at the 2015 Championships in Poznań and retained his title the following year at the 2016 European Championships in Brandenburg. Martin won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's single sculls event, losing to Mahé Drysdale in a photo finish and beating multiple-time world champion Ondřej Synek.[3] In 2017, he placed second at the European Championships in Račice. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Martin won the bronze medal in the men's single sculls event.[4] [5] He competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.[6]