Grant Patterson

Started: He began swimming at age 11. (cairns.com.au, 03 Mar 2010) Reason: He discovered that it was the best sport for him to compete in with his impairment. "I wanted to play cricket or football because that's what all boys want to do. But as I got older, I was competitive and realised I couldn't really play cricket or AFL [Australian rules football] with the boys my age because I'm this tall and they're that tall, so we gave swimming a go. Seeing all these people with missing limbs and seeing a whole team environment was pretty cool and I think that's what started that little fire in my head." (abc.net.au, 07 Sep 2019; adelaidenow.com.au, 22 Mar 2012) Ambition: To win gold at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (swimswam.com, 19 Mar 2024) Awards: He was joint winner of the Swimmers' Swimmer of the Year award at the 2021 Swimming Australia Awards. (Facebook page, 13 Feb 2022; swimmingworldmagazine.com, 12 Feb 2022) He was named Athlete with a Disability of the Year at the 2021 North Queensland Sportstar Awards in Australia. (Facebook page, 31 Oct 2021) He was named Sportsperson of the Year at the 2021 Cairns Regional Council Australia Day Awards. (Instagram profile, 26 Jan 2021; Central Cairns Swimming Facebook page, 25 Jan 2021) In 2014 he was named Paralympic Program Swimmer of the Year by Swimming Australia. (swimmingworldmagazine.com, 22 Dec 2014) Additional Info: KART RACING In 2022 he said he intended to get into competitive kart racing, having had his own custom go-kart built over a year. "With karting, the fear factor is there, the adrenaline. I love going fast. As an athlete, I'm very competitive, competitive in any sport like table tennis or spearfishing, swimming. I approach life at 158% because life's too short, literally, so I always go out on a limb and make something from nothing. Everyone's got to have goals. If you don't have goals, there's no point doing anything. It took us a little while to get the kart all put together because I'm different." (Facebook page, 03 Mar 2022; abc.net.au, 29 Jan 2022; Cairns Kart Racing Club Facebook page, 29 Jan 2022)