Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Ahmed Kelly | |||||||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | Liquid Nails | |||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Australian | |||||||||||||||||||
Born | Baghdad, Iraq | 18 November 1991|||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||
Strokes | Breaststroke | |||||||||||||||||||
Classifications | S4, SB3, SM4 | |||||||||||||||||||
Club | Melbourne Vicentre | |||||||||||||||||||
Coach | Yuriy Vdovychenko | |||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Ahmed Kelly (born 18 November 1991) is an Iraqi-born Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, his third games, he won the silver medal in the Men's 150 m individual medley SM3 . [1]
Nicknamed "Liquid Nails", Kelly was born on 18 November 1991 in Baghdad, Iraq with a double arm and leg deficiency. [2] [3] Until the age of seven, he lived in at Baghdad's Mother Teresa Orphanage with his brother, Emmanuel who has a similar disability. [2] [3] [4] Moira Kelly, on her own, met the brothers in 1998 and with her parents' help, brought them to Victoria, Australia in 2000 to get medical care for their disability. Kelly's treatment involved having parts of his legs removed that were deficient, and then being fitted with prosthesis. [2] Moira adopted the brothers in 2000. [4] In 2009, he became an Australian citizen. [4] Ahmed attended secondary school at Assumption College Kilmore, in Kilmore, Victoria from year levels 7 to 10 and Carey Grammar for levels 11 & 12. His primary school was St.Patrick's Primary School Kilmore, in Kilmore, Victoria also. He was featured on the ABC's "Race to London". [5] In 2013 he commenced university studying a Bachelor of Arts at La Trobe University in Melbourne and dreams of working in the media as a sports commentator in the future.
His brother has appeared on Australia's X-Factor. [6] He has Bangladeshi-born twin sisters who were conjoined at birth. They attend his swimming meets to cheer for Kelly. [2] [4] [6]
Kelly played Australian rules football for a team in Kilmore, Victoria. When playing, he did not wear prosthetic arms. [2] [3] [4] He played Australian Rules for his school's Year 7/8 team. [3]
Kelly is an S4, SB3 (breaststroke), SM4 (individual medley) classified swimmer and swims for Melbourne Vicentre Swimming Club. He was coached by Brad Harris but in 2021 trains at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra under coach Yuriy Vdovychenko . [2] As of 2016 [update] , he has a scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport. [7] [8]
He started swimming in 2008, after making a switch from Australian rules football. [2]
Kelly first represented Australia in 2009 at the Darwin, Northern Territory hosted Oceania Paralympic Championships. [2]
In 2009, he competed in the Arafura Games. [3] He competed in the 2010 Australian National Championships, finishing first in the 100 metre breaststroke event in world record time.
He repeated this feat in 2011 where he again set a world record. [2] He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in four events. [9] [10] [6] His best result was fourth in the Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3. [11] [2]
At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow, he competed in five events – Men's 50m Freestyle S4, Men's 150m Individual Medley SM4, Men's 50m Backstroke, Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3 and Men's 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay 20 Points. His best result was sixth in the Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3. [11]
Kelly competed in four events at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. He placed seventh in Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3 and sixth in Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay (20 points). He also competed in Men's 50m Backstroke S3 and Men's 150m Individual Medley SM4 but didn't progress to the finals. [12]
At the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships, London, Kelly won the silver medal in the Men's 150m Individual Medley SM3. [13]
Kelly won his first Paralympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, by winning the silver medal in the Men's 150 m individual medley SM3 with a time of 3:02.23, just over 5 seconds slower than the gold medal winner Jesús Hernández Hernández of Mexico He competed in the Men's 50 m breaststroke SB3 final and finished seventh. [14]
Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.
Marayke Caroline Jonkers is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer and paratriathlete. She won two bronze medals at the 2004 Athens Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, along with a bronze medal at the 2010 Budapest ITU Triathlon World Championships.
Sascha Kindred is a British swimmer who has competed in six Summer Paralympic Games, winning thirteen medals.
Matthew John Levy, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.
Blake Cochrane, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, two gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics, a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and a silver and one bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Rick Pendleton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer from Sydney. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, his fourth Games.
Prue Watt, is a Paralympic swimming gold medalist from Australia. She has represented Australia at the four Paralympics from 2004 to 2016.
S13, SB13, SM13 are disability swimming classifications used for categorising swimmers based on their level of disability. Jane Buckley, writing for the Sporting Wheelies, describes the swimmers in this classification as having: "Swimmers who are the most sighted but are considered to be blind according to the IBSA B3."
S11, SB11, SM11 are disability swimming classifications for blind swimmers.
Teigan Van Roosmalen is an Australian Paralympic S13 swimmer. She has Usher Syndrome type 1 legally blind and Profoundly deaf. She had a swimming scholarship from the Australian Institute of Sport 2009-2012. Her events are the 100 m breaststroke, 200 m individual medley, 50 m and 100 m freestyle. She competed at the 2011 Para Pan Pacific Championships in Edmonton, where she won a gold medal in the S13 400 freestyle event. She competed at the 2008 Summer and 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Sean Russo is an Australian swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Grant Patterson is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, his second games, he won a silver and bronze medal.
Tanya Huebner is an Australian swimmer. She has represented Australia at the 2012 London and the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Jesse Aungles is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2020 Summer Paralympics
Timothy Malcolm (Disko) Disken, is an Australian paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships and won bronze in the men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle S9, a silver medal in the men's S9 50m freestyle and a bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley SM9. He also competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Madeleine Scott is an Australian Paralympic swimmer and has won silver medals at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Thomas Young is a British Paralympic swimmer. He represented Britain at the 2012 London Paralympics and has won medals at both the long course and short course World Championships.
Timothy Hodge is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where he won two silver and one bronze medals.
Paige Leonhardt is an Australian swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, where she won a silver medal.
Liam Bekric is an Australian Paralympic swimmer with a vision impairment. Bekric represented Australia for the first time at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.