Timothy Hodge

Started: He was introduced to swimming at age four, and began competing in 2010. "The school pathway was where I first experienced competitive swimming, and showed me that I really enjoyed it. Without this start, I don't think I would have had the same motivation to train and compete that would push me to try and make the Australian Paralympic team." (csnsw.sport, 21 Sep 2021; paralympic.org.au, 01 Sep 2016; dailytelegraph.com.au, 30 Aug 2016) Reason: He began swimming as part of his rehabilitation and to help him feel confident in his own body. "Since then I've never thought that, 'No, I can't do anything'. I've always thought that [having an impairment] is tough, but swimming is tough as well. I went from a four-and-a-half year old in a wheelchair to competing at state competitions for school at age nine. Based on that, you really can turn things around. That motivates me to put in a lot of hard work for the future." (swimming.org.au, 24 Jun 2019; paralympic.org.au, 01 Jan 2017; dailytelegraph.com.au, 30 Aug 2016) Ambition: To win gold at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris, and to compete at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. (paralympic.org.au, 09 Apr 2024; tresamagazine.com, 13 Oct 2022) Awards: He was named Young Athlete of the Year with a Disability for 2018 and 2021 at the New South Wales Champions of Sports Awards in Australia. (tresamagazine.com, 13 Oct 2022) In 2019 he was named Sportsperson of the Year at the Blacktown City Sports Awards Gala Dinner in New South Wales, Australia. (parra.catholic.edu.au, 19 Feb 2019) He was named Junior Sports Star by Australian newspaper Blacktown Advocate for 2015 and 2016. (dailytelegraph.com.au, 22 Feb 2017) He was named the 2012 Young Citizen of the Year by Blacktown Council in New South Wales, Australia. (dailytelegraph.com.au, 30 Aug 2016) Additional Info: BREAKING IDOL'S RECORD At the 2022 World Championships in Madeira, Portugal, he swam a then world record time of 2:13.43 in the SM9 200m individual medley. It surpassed the previous mark of 2:13.60 set by his idol, Australian Para swimmer Matthew Cowdrey, at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. "I feel like one of my life's accomplishments is to have a world record that was held by Matthew Cowdrey, especially the one I've been chasing for quite a number of years. I use the standards he did to push myself as I worked my way through the age groups and to break his world record. To keep [the record] in Australian hands was a dream come true. It has taken a lot of hard work, long training sessions and many kilometres in the pool to do it. I'd like to think I am helping to inspire the next generation of swimmers. There's some very good swimmers coming through, and just as I looked to Matt, and I wanted to beat his record, I hope the next generation of swimmers are looking to break mine." He went on to lower the record to 2:12.06 at the 2023 Australian Championships in Southport, QLD, Australia. (sportzhub.com, 22 Apr 2023; nswis.com.au, 17 Apr 2023; tresamagazine.com, 13 Oct 2022; paralympic.org.au, 05 Jul 2022; swimswam.com, 17 Jun 2022) DOCUMENTARY In 2019 he was featured in a short documentary called 'In My Lane'. (swimming.org.au, 24 Jun 2019)