Paralympics 2024: Ahmed Kelly chases elusive gold medal at Paris

Not many Paralympic swimmers win their first gold medal at their fourth attempt, especially after they’ve hit their 30s. But, then, Ahmed Kelly isn’t like most other swimmers. Find out why inside.

Ahmed Kelly is chasing a gold medal in his fourth Paralympic Games. Picture: Toby Zerna

Not many Paralympic swimmers win their first gold medal at their fourth attempt, especially after they’ve hit their 30s.

But, then, Ahmed Kelly isn’t like most other swimmers.

One of Australia’s leading contenders for this year’s Paris Paralympics, Kelly’s been defying the odds all his life.

Already a three-time Paralympian with a silver medal from the last Games in Tokyo, he’s looking to make it fourth time lucky in the French capital.

And this time, he’s got momentum on his side after capturing his first world title in 2023 with a stunning performance at age 31.

“But we still haven’t got that gold medal from the Paralympics,” Kelly said.

“I was happy with the silver in Tokyo, but I wasn’t so happy with the performance. I know I had a lot more to give.”

Ahmed Kelly dives off the blocks at the Sydney Sprints, the Australian Short Course Championships held at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre in Homebush, 14 September, 2023. Picture: Toby Zerna

Despite being the reigning world champion for 150m individual medley, Kelly knows from experience that nothing’s ever guaranteed in high-performance sport, not even his place on the Dolphins’ team.

To secure his seat on the flight to Paris though, he needs to deliver at next month’s trials in Brisbane. If he clears that hurdle, the competition awaiting him in France is going to be the toughest he’s ever faced.

“Of course, the desired outcome is gold but it’s the process that we’re more focused on,” he said.

“What really drives us is trying to better ourselves every session, every week.

“Paralympic swimming has come so far from where I started. There’s more depth, there’s more talent and there’s more science and even more money being poured into it.

“It’s become really professional as well, which is fantastic, but it means these athletes are really pushing their body, six days a week, maybe even seven.”

Lani Pallister, Ahmed Kelly and Ariarne Titmus modelling the Australian aquatic uniforms for Paris

If Kelly does manage to medal in Paris, there will be few more popular winners than him.

Nicknamed ‘Liquid Nails’ because of his tough-as approach to every obstacle he’s encountered, he’s already become something of a celebrity because of his extraordinary backstory.

Born in Iraq, Kelly and his brother Emmanuel both have underdeveloped arms and legs caused by chemical warfare.

They were found by soldiers, abandoned in a shoebox, then raised by nuns in a Baghdad orphanage when Australian humanitarian worker Moira Kelly met them, adopted the brothers and brought them home to Melbourne with her.

Ahmed underwent surgery to remove both his legs below the knees and was fitted with prosthetic legs. After flirting with footy, he turned to swimming and quickly began to rise through the ranks.

Emmanuel Kelly rose to fame as a teenager when he sang John Lennon’s Imagine on X Factor

Emmanuel took a different path to fame. A gifted singer, he became an overnight sensation when he appeared on X Factor as a teenager, with his performance racking up 500 million views on YouTube. He’s become a global star, sharing stages with Coldplay, Snoop Dogg and other international artists.

The two men are part of an extended family because their adoptive mother Moira has brought hundreds of sick kids to Australia for life saving operations through her charity foundations.

Perhaps the best known are Ahmed and Emmanuel’s Bangladeshi-born twin sisters Krishna and Trishna, who were conjoined at the head.

They were also adopted and brought to Australia, where a team of 16 doctors and nurses performed a 26-hour surgery to separate them.

The twins have become Ahmed’s biggest fans, as well as an inspiration to him, as he finetunes his preparations for the Australian trials, from June 10-14.

Ahmed Kelly’s twin sisters Krishna (left) and Trishna (right) are his biggest fans

His coach, Alex Hirschauer, says he’s also been buoyed by the chance to work with Kelly and all the tribulations they’ve faced trying to get the best out of him.

“There is a lot of trial and error. From time to time I’ll ask Ahmed to do something and if it just doesn’t work then we forget it and we move on to something else,” Hirschauer said.

“We’ve been working together on and off for 13 years so there’s a lot of things that we’ve tried, and there’s a lot of things that have failed and a lot of things that have worked really, really well.

“In this day and age, we tend to get quite focused on what we don’t have and what’s wrong and what’s not perfect whereas Ahmed’s attitude is that he just gets on with it and embraces the situation.

“He’s always got a smile on his face when he’s taking on challenges. Some kid will have a sore foot and use that as an excuse not to train but he doesn’t even have feet and he’s training.

“That makes it very inspirational and motivational for me as a coach to work with someone like that.”