Ahmed
Kelly

Before Ahmed Kelly was a three-time Paralympian, he was living in an orphanage in Baghdad, Iraq, with his brother Emmanuel.

Both had been born with severely underdeveloped arms and legs – not uncommon in countries torn by chemical warfare – and so when they met humanitarian worker Moira Kelly in 1998, Moira adopted them and brought them home with her to Australia.

Ahmed had surgery to remove both his legs below the knees, and it was then that he was introduced to his first love – Aussie Rules.

He soon earned the nickname ‘Nails’ for his tough-as-nails style of play, and it was Nails-turned-Liquid Nails when Ahmed discovered Para-swimming.

Ahmed made his Paralympic debut at the London 2012 Paralympic Games – cheering him on were his sisters, Trishna and Krishna, the Bangladeshi conjoined twins who were famously separated in 2009 – but another Paralympic Games and World Championships would pass before he really came into his own.

At last September’s World Para-swimming Championships, under the tutelage of coaching great Yuriy Vdovychenko, Ahmed won his first major international medal – a silver – in the men’s 150m individual medley SM3.

Competing in his third Games at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, Ahmed began his campaign to finish seventh in the 50m breaststroke S13 with a time of 54.89. He secured the silver medal in the men’s 150m individual medley SM3 to finish with a time of 3:02.23, behind Mexico’s Jesus Hernandez Hernandez. He was able to share the dais with fellow Australian teammate, Grant Patterson, who finished the race in third.