Paralympian Blake Cochrane heading into third Paralympic Games with everything to prove
BORN without fingers and toes, Blake Cochrane has found his own way of doing things — even conquering the monkey bars. Now, he is aiming for gold in Rio.
Moreton
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APPROACHING his third Paralympic Games, there is not much Blake Cochrane cannot achieve when he sets his mind to it.
He laughs off the thought of having any disability. He has a congenital limb deficiency affecting his fingers and toes but that has not — and will not — stop the 25-year-old.
“The best thing my parents could have done was treat me no differently to the other kids,” he said of a childhood that was perfectly ‘normal’ in every sense — a loving family, great mates made at school, and jerseys filling his cupboard from a wide range of sporting codes.
“(My parents) told me, whatever I wanted to do I could do and they would support me 100 per cent.”
And as he tried everything he wanted, his parents sat on the sideline, or in the pool grandstand.
Growing up on the Redcliffe Peninsula, north of Brisbane, Cochrane played football, cricket and AFL and swimming to help with his asthma.
“I played every sport under the sun and didn’t put any limits on what I could do,” the Southern Cross Catholic College graduate said.
“The only thing I struggled with when I was a kid was the monkey bars.”
So much is the determination and drive of Cochrane, that he worked hard to conquer the only thing he could not achieve. Years of swimming and strength training brought the seemingly impossible task within his reach.
“Now that I’m bigger and stronger, I can do them perfectly fine as well,” he said, smiling as though he only just realised what an incredible feat he has managed.
“The best way that I’ve adapted to doing things is by finding my own way to do it, and so it’s just a process of working through what I can do and what I can’t do and finding a way to do it.
“I’ve never come across something I can’t do.”
It is that attitude that he can do anything, and the mentality that he can only control what he can control, that Cochrane takes into his third Paralympics.
Third Paralympics, but still a ‘first’
Blake Cochrane is one of the veterans of Australia’s Paralympic swimming team, but even he will encounter something new heading into Rio.
Cochrane, who now trains at the University of the Sunshine Coast under coach Jan Cameron, will enter his main event — 100m breaststroke SB7 — as the second favourite, with everything to prove.
Relatively unknown at his Paralympic Games debut in Beijing in 2008, Cochrane — in Year 12 at Southern Cross Catholic College at the time — had no expectations on him.
He was a late call up into the team, which he said came as a bit of a shock, but was still one of the greatest experiences of his career and life.
With a near perfect swim, Cochrane won a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke event and stood on the podium for the first time at a Paralympic Games.
There was no expectation in Beijing, but that had changed four years on when it was time for the London Paralympics.
He was ranked No. 1 and had the weight of expectation on his shoulders — which he managed comfortably in the same way he glides through the water.
The first two campaigns will differ to this one, where Cochrane is going as the “second favourite” with everything to prove against Colombia’s Carlos Serrano, who now holds Cochrane’s previous world record.
“I’m going in ranked second, so this is another new experience for me,” he said, but not deterred by the challenge.
“Realistically, it would take something quite special to be able to knock him off his perch; he has taken the world record now and got about two seconds on me, which is a pretty substantial distance.”
But, just like those monkey bars, there is no way Cochrane is drawing a line through this one before it starts.
“If I can put together a perfect race in Rio, anything can happen,” he said.
His former coach at Southern Cross Swimming Pool, Steve Hadler, said he had no doubt Cochrane would be on the podium again.
“It’s just been a nurturing game with Blake; he has always had the passion and the desire to do well,” Hadler said.
“Blake never thought he had any disability ... and never looked back.”
Race times:
■ Thursday, September 8, 10.45pm: 400m freestyle S8 (heat) — final Friday, September 9, 6.44am
■ Saturday, September 10, 10.30pm: 100m breaststroke SB7 (heat) — final Sunday, September 11, 6.30am
■ Monday, September 12, 12.12am: 100m freestyle S8 (heat) — final Monday, September 12, 8.29am
■ Friday, Sept 16, 11.04pm: 50m freestyle S8 (heat) — final Saturday, September 17, 6.57am
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