Col Pearse wins silver medal in 200m individual medley at the Paralympics

Silver winning swimmer Col Pearce moved away from his home town and sacrificed everything for his shot at Paralympic glory and he is looking to go one better in LA and Brisbane.

The son of a Victorian dairy farmer who left for the Big Smoke to chase his dreams, Col Pearse won a richly deserved silver medal in the men’s 200m individual medley at the Paralympics on Sunday morning.

The 21-year-old was highly emotional after a race in which he finished second behind Italian Stefano Raimondo, who won five gold medals in Paris.

Pearse recalled the sacrifices he had made since he was a kid training in a dam on his family’s property in rural Echuca.

“It just means everything,’’ he said. “Coming into this competition, I’ve worked my arse off. I’ve worked so bloody hard to get here.

“I sacrificed the last seven years of my life and I’m only 21. I moved away from my friends and family back home in Australia, moved to the big city.

“Being a farm boy, I’ve just given up everything for this sport. I’ve given up something that’s not guaranteed.

“So to be able to walk away with this silverware, it means everything.

“It’s paid off for my family because it’s not been easy on them.

Col Pearse won a richly deserved silver medal in the men’s 200m individual medley.

“It’s paid off for the work I’ve done and everyone else who’s supported me.”

Pearse’s right foot was amputated following a lawnmower accident when he was a toddler but it hasn’t stopped him from becoming an elite swimmer or competing on the world stage.

While he won a bronze medal in the 100m at the last Paralympics in Tokyo when he was still a teenager, he was disappointed when he narrowly missed a podium place in the French capital. He finished fourth and his teammate Alex Saffy claimed the bronze.

“You don’t come this far just to get fourth place,” Pearse said. You come this far to give it your all and walk away with a medal and be the best version of yourself.

“After that 100m fly, I had a lot of evaluation to do.

“Rather than getting caught up with my emotions, go back to the drawing books and look at what I did wrong and use that for the 200m IM.

“I’m so incredibly proud and I still am and forever will be of Alex Saffy for winning that bronze medal.

“But I’m even prouder of myself for walking off with silverware after two-and-a-half weeks in a Paralympic village.”

Col Pearse is already looking ahead to Brisbane 2032

Still just 21, Pearse said he was already looking ahead to the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles and 2032 Games on home soil.

“I don’t plan on hanging up the goggles for many years,” he said.

“We’ve got Brisbane in 2032 so for the next eight years you’ll be seeing my ginger hair everywhere.

“It’s been hard, it’s been a really harsh road, but it’s another eight years to go until 2032, so I’m pumped and keen to get into it.”

Originally published as Col Pearse wins silver medal in 200m individual medley at the Paralympics