Paralympics: Blake Cochrane eyes off gold at fourth Paralympics

Blake Cochrane had all but given up on a fourth Paralympic Games - but after being a late addition to the Toyko team, he wants to achieve something truly special.

He almost didn’t get a ticket to Tokyo but despite being a late call-up Blake Cochrane still plans to bring home a medal from his fourth Paralympic Games.

Cochrane, 30, trains with the University of Sunshine Coast and has found his way to the podium at every Paralympics since Beijing.

He was competing at the Grand Prix event in Brisbane in July when he found out the International Paralympic Committee had granted him an extra place in the Australian swimming team bound for Tokyo.

Blake Cochrane has been focusing on the one percenters ahead of the Tokyo Paralympics. Photo: AAP/Darren England

“I was gunning for my fourth Games but had missed out because of restrictions on numbers. I was waiting for the process to unfold and had almost given up, but then to be told I was going to Tokyo, it’s just very exciting,” Cochrane said.

With two gold and two silver medals from his previous Paralympics, three minor World Championships medals and four from the Commonwealth Games Cochrane is one of Australia’s most decorated para-swimmers.

He will compete in the SB7 Men’s 100m breaststroke at 6pm on Wednesday.

Pre-Games he put a lot of work into his turn in a bid to save himself half a second.

It could be just what he needs to get back to his best time of 1 minute 16 seconds – which he was just shy of at the trials in Adelaide.

“A half a second on the world stage can be the difference between a gold medal and a silver medal,” Cochrane said.

Blake Cochrane won bronze in the Men's SB8 100m Breaststroke Final on day three of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games at Optus Aquatic Centre on April 7, 2018 on the Gold Coast, Australia. Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images

“I don’t train for second place and you don’t go to the Paralympics chasing anything other than the ultimate performance which is a gold medal.”

He grew up in Redcliffe, north of Brisbane, and always had a love for swimming – either in the bathtub, the beach and then the pool.

“I’ve always loved the water, I started at the pool when I grew too big to do laps in the bathtub,” Cochrane said.

Like many others who take up swimming Cochrane had asthma, which was one of the reasons his parents enrolled him in a learn to swim program.

“I learned to love it and I still do today,” he said.

Blake Cochrane is hoping to win his third Paralympic gold medal in Tokyo in the 100m breaststroke.

“When I step on the world stage and get those butterflies and passion to perform well that is what I love about being an athlete.”

There had been rumours Cochrane planned to hang up his green and gold togs after Tokyo but he said he had far from made up his mind.

“With how I’ve been training over the last 18 months and now that I’ve found the perfect work-life balance I’m in a really positive place and am just taking it one competition at a time,” he said.

Originally published as Paralympics: Blake Cochrane eyes off gold at fourth Paralympics