Ahmed Kelly (born 18 November 1991) is an Iraqi-born Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralympic ...

, his third games, he won the silver medal in the Men's 150 m individual medley SM3 .

Personal

020912 - Ahmed Kelly - 3b - 2012 Summer Paralympics

Nicknamed "Liquid Nails", Kelly was born on 18 November 1991 in Baghdad, Iraq with a double arm and leg deficiency. Until the age of seven, he lived in at Baghdad's Mother Teresa Orphanage with his brother, Emmanuel who has a similar disability. Moira Kelly, on her own, met the brothers in 1998 and with her parents' help, brought them to Victoria, Australia in 2000 to get medical care for their disability. Kelly's treatment involved having parts of his legs removed that were deficient, and then being fitted with prosthesis. Moira adopted the brothers in 2000. In 2009, he became an Australian citizen. Ahmed attended secondary school at Assumption College Kilmore, in Kilmore, Victoria from year levels 7 to 10 and Carey Grammar for levels 11 & 12. His primary school was St.Patrick's Primary School Kilmore, in Kilmore, Victoria also. He was featured on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's "Race to London". In 2013 he commenced university studying a Bachelor of Arts at La Trobe University in Melbourne and dreams of working in the media as a sports commentator in the future. His brother has appeared on Australia's ''

X-Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

.'' He has Bangladeshi-born twin sisters who were conjoined at birth. They attend his swimming meets to cheer for Kelly. Kelly played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

for a team in Kilmore, Victoria. When playing, he did not wear prosthetic arms. He played Australian Rules for his school's Year 7/8 team.

Swimming

Kelly is an S4, SB3 (breaststroke), SM4 (individual medley) classified swimmer and swims for

Melbourne Vicentre Melbourne Vicentre is a swimming club based at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC), Melbourne, Australia. Its head coach is 1992 Olympian Craig Jackson, supported by Kenrick Monk, Brad Harris and others. Prior to his resignation in ...

Swimming Club. He was coached by Brad Harris but in 2021 trains at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

in Canberra under coach Yuriy Vdovychenko . , he has a scholarship with the

Victorian Institute of Sport The Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) is the government-funded sporting institute of the Australian state of Victoria. It provides high performance sports programs for talented athletes, enabling them to achieve national and international succe ...

. He started swimming in 2008, after making a switch from

. Kelly first represented Australia in 2009 at the

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the smalle ...

hosted Oceania Paralympic Championships. In 2009, he competed in the Arafura Games. He competed in the 2010 Australian National Championships, finishing first in the 100 metre breaststroke event in world record time. He repeated this feat in 2011 where he again set a world record. He represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

in four events. His best result was fourth in the Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3. At the

2015 IPC Swimming World Championships The 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships was an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Glasgow, United Kingdom and took place from 13 to 19 July. Around 580 athletes from around 70 countries competed at ...

in Glasgow, he competed in five events – Men's 50m Freestyle S4, Men's 150m Individual Medley SM4, Men's 50m Backstroke, Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3 and Men's 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay 20 Points. His best result was sixth in the Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3. Kelly competed in four events at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. He placed seventh in Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3 and sixth in Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay (20 points). He also competed in Men's 50m Backstroke S3 and Men's 150m Individual Medley SM4 but didn't progress to the finals. At the

2019 World Para Swimming Championships The 2019 World Para Swimming Championships is the 2019 edition of the World Para Swimming Championships run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The championships were held from February to June in seven countries across five continent ...

, London, Kelly won the silver medal in the Men's 150m Individual Medley SM3. Kelly won his first Paralympic medal at the

, by winning the silver medal in the Men's 150 m individual medley SM3 with a time of 3:02.23, just over 5 seconds slower than the gold medal winner

Jesús Hernández Hernández Jesús Hernández Hernández (born 27 October 1991) is a Mexican Paralympic swimmer. Career He represented Mexico at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where he won a bronze medal in the 50 meters backstroke S4 event, and at the 2020 Summer Paraly ...

of Mexico He competed in the Men's 50 m breaststroke SB3 final and finished seventh.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Ahmed Living people 1991 births Male Paralympic swimmers of Australia Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in swimming Australian male breaststroke swimmers Sportspeople from Baghdad Victorian Institute of Sport alumni World record holders in paralympic swimming Australian adoptees Iraqi emigrants to Australia S4-classified Paralympic swimmers People educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Australian male medley swimmers Naturalised citizens of Australia