Col Pearse - Paralympian

The Bamawm local is one of the new faces in a 32-person team who will head to Tokyo in Australian colours in August for the Paralympics, looking to add to Australia's 420 medals since the first Paralympics in 1960.

But it came after an interesting week.

With the national swimming trials in Adelaide, the Australian Paralympic team was being decided.

But Col was not there, he was in Melbourne.

“We got advised when it looked like we might end up in lockdown to get out of Melbourne,” he said.

“But I couldn't go. I'm in the middle of Year 12 and have other commitments so it simply wasn't the best time for me to leave.”

Instead, using a rule adopted by Paralympics Australia and Swimming Australia, Col was allowed to use his time from the national titles earlier in the year — which happened to be a personal best in his pet event of the 100 m butterfly.

“It was under the qualifying time, so I felt okay, but you never know,” Col said.

“A lot has happened in the last year, so I wasn't getting too far ahead of myself.”

On Wednesday, as he watched the trials, Col and those who had been a part of his swimming journey waited with bated breath.

Then the squad was named on the TV — and he was in.

“It's just good to get it off my shoulders, in a way,” Col said.

“It had been such a big week and I was just relieved to see the announcement.”

Then the excitement hit as he realised a lifelong dream was finally taking place.

“I moved to Melbourne when I was 14 to chase this,” Col said.

“I left my family and friends and took the risk because this was all I wanted to do, to make it to this level.

“And now I'm going to be a Paralympian. I get to Tokyo and compete for my country. It's literally a dream come true.

“Last year when we went into stage four lockdown it was horrible, we were so concerned about what would happen and that we might miss our chance. But that's behind us as a team now, we get to go.”

Now begins an interesting 67 days for Col and his team, as the Australians enter a team bubble.

“We are heading to NSW to do 14 days in basically quarantine, though we get to go to the pool each day and swim.

“From there we go to Queensland as a team and spend some more time together so we can keep the group together and hopefully away from the virus, plus training in the warmer weather, which is exciting.

“We have to do 14 days (quarantine) in Tokyo as well, but we get to train the whole time which is most important. It's going to be a strange two months for us all, but Tokyo is at the end and that's what matters most.”

The journey from Bamawm to Tokyo continues in the next two months for Col, and while a series of challenges await him, the dream is just weeks away from being realised.

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