Benjamin James Austin, OAM (born 7 November 1980) is an Australian Elite Athlete with a Disability (EAD) swimmer. His classification is S8 (above elbow amputee).

Early life

Austin was born on 7 November 1980 in the New South Wales town of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. He is Aboriginal via his maternal grandmother. When he was a few weeks old, doctors amputated his left arm above the elbow due to birth-related complications. Outside of swimming, he plays

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. He is a university student, working on a degree that will allow him to become an English as a Second Language teacher. He is also studying

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

. He currently resides in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. He is tall and weighs . He has four sisters.

Swimming

Austin started swimming at five years of age, and began swimming competitively in 1996. He represented Australia for the first time in 1999. While he is primarily known for being a Paralympic swimmer, he also competed in abled bodied swimming. He swims for Warringah Aquatic and is coached by Ben Davies. In 2008, he was coached by Graeme Carroll. He was an

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 ...

scholarship holder. He has competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, the 2004 Summer Paralympics and the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

. At the 2000 Games, he won a silver medal in the 200 m individual medley, and two bronze medals in the 100 m butterfly and 4x100 m medley relay events. He went into the Sydney 2000 Games ranked number one for the 200m individual medley and held top 5 rankings in both the 100m and 50m freestyle and butterfly events. At the 2004 Games, he won two gold medals in the 100 m freestyle and 4×100 m medley events, for which he received a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

, three silver medals in the 100 m butterfly, 200 m individual medley, and 4×100 m freestyle relay events, and a bronze medal in the 4x100 m freestyle relay. He set two world records at the 2004 Paralympic Games in the 100 m freestyle and 100 m butterfly events. At the 2008 Games, he won a gold medal in the Men's 4x100 m Medley 34 pts relay and a silver medal in the 4x100 m freestyle relay. He finished in fifth place in the 100 m butterfly event, and fourth in the 100 m freestyle event. He competed at the

IPC Swimming World Championships The World Para Swimming Championships, known before 30 November 2016 as the IPC Swimming World Championships, are the world championships for swimming where athletes with a disability compete. They are organised by the International Paralympic C ...

in 2002 and 2006. At the 2008 Australian Championships, he set a personal best time in the 100 m Freestyle event with a time of 0:59.08. Austin became a pioneer of Australian swimming and he did this by bridging the gap of respect, recognition and equality to the Paralympic swimming movement in Australia, through his inspiring achievements and growing public profile. Ben became the first Paralympic Telstra Dolphins Ambassador and also the first Paralympic ambassador for Austswim.

2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games

Austin set two world records at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 (Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games

Austin set six world records at the

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Ben 1980 births Living people Sportsmen from New South Wales Australian amputees Child amputees Male Paralympic swimmers for Australia Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Amputee category Paralympic competitors World record holders in paralympic swimming Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic swimmers Indigenous Australian Paralympians S8-classified para swimmers Commonwealth Games medallists in swimming Paralympic medalists in swimming Australian male freestyle swimmers Australian male breaststroke swimmers Australian male medley swimmers Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games People from Wellington, New South Wales