Liam Twomey

Started: He began competing in triathlon in 2018. "I learned to swim at 22, and at that point I knew what I wanted to be, a Paralympian. I moved from multi-class swimming to triathlon at the beginning of 2018, just before my 24th birthday. I was definitely out of my depth, never running five kilometres before, owning a bike or doing open water swimming. As it turns out though I'm not as bad as I thought I was." (sportitude.com.au, 22 Nov 2022; asf.org.au, 10 Mar 2021; Black Dog Institute Facebook page, 20 Oct 2020) Reason: He originally trained in swimming before switching to triathlon. "I was like a fish out of water but I really stuck with it. I may look a little bit different when I run compared to some people, but I generally run faster than most of my mates with both legs. Feeling physically capable is really empowering and I think that it is really important for everyone, disability or not." (sportitude.com.au, 22 Nov 2022) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (10 News First Melbourne Facebook page, 19 Jun 2024) Awards: He was named Sportperson of the Year with a Disability at the 2023 Deakin University Sport Awards in Australia. (blogs.deakin.edu.au, 03 Nov 2023) Additional Info: EMBRACING HIS IMPAIRMENT He admits to dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues during his youth as he struggled to accept his impairment. He says sport helped him overcome his challenges, and he has since tried to help others through his work as a motivational speaker and mental fitness programme ambassador with the Australian Institute of Sport [AIS]. He has also served as a mental fitness ambassador for START Foundation and Black Dog Institute in Australia. "Everyone around me could see I wasn't OK, but I wasn't able or didn't have the mental and physical capacity to be able to talk about it. I'm very different [now] to how I was then. I just really struggled with myself. At age 21, I broke the cycle. I moved [from Melbourne] to Sydney, traded all my bad habits for new ones. I started to work on myself from the inside out and accepted my reality, that I was an amputee. It took 15 years but choosing to make the most of my circumstances changed everything. My life massively changed [after taking up sports]. The biggest thing that changed for me, while physically I was doing a lot of cool stuff, was that I had mentally really changed the way I do things. I had a good support group. I was really open with my friends and my family, and I spoke to people openly about how I felt, which changed everything for me. I felt really comfortable and safe." (sportitude.com.au, 22 Nov 2022; Australian Institute of Sport Facebook page, 31 May 2022; AUS Triathlon Facebook page, 02 Dec 2021; geleisure.com.au, 23 Sep 2021; asf.org.au, 10 Mar 2021; Black Dog Institute Facebook page, 20 Oct 2020)