with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin

Every Australian kid I knew was into sports and swimming , and you can swim anywhere . At the beach , the local pools , your own backyard , even your favourite waterhole , lake or river can keep kids entertained through the sizzling summer months .

It is no surprise that our Olympic and Paralympic swim teams are littered with genuine medal prospects , and hopefully we can bring home a swag of medals including gold .

Blacktown has produced two of the best Paralympic swimmers who will represent Australia in France , and they are genuine medal contenders . Timothy Hodge , despite his young age at 23 , is no stranger to competing at a Summer

Chloe Osborn ready to go . Credit : Swimming Australia .

Paralympic games . He represented Australia in both the 2016 Paralympics at 15 and again in 2020 , where he won two silvers and one bronze for the Aussies .

Timothy hopes to inspire people who have a similar disability to his own ; his amputations have obviously impacted his life . He wants them to start their own journey and set their own goals for what they want to achieve .

Timothy swims in the S9 classification ( SB8 ), and when he made his debut as a 14-year-old in the 2015 IPC World Championships in Glasgow he was the second youngest member of the Australian team .

Fast forward to winning a silver and bronze in Tokyo 2022 , since the Paralympics , Timothy Hodge has been crushing the competition . He has picked up three world championship gold medals , one silver and four bronze medals . Also , a Commonwealth games gold , two silver medals in Birmingham and the Gold Coast . Timothy broke his own world record in the men ’ s 200m medley SB9 at the Australian Paralympic Swimming trials with a time of 2.12.03 mins .

Blacktown ’ s other Paralympic swimming prospect is the tenacious Chloe Osborn . At the age of 12 Chloe was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma , a rare and aggressive cancer . She suffered nerve

damage and a spinal injury as a result of the operation to remove the tumour .

Chloe ’ s physiotherapist recommended that she take up swimming as part of her rehabilitation . She started swimming at Hawkesbury Oasis and moved into the swim squad training four days a week . She was classified as an S7 swimmer and entered her first swim competition as a 15-year-old .

She has since moved to ACU Blacktown and trains with Misha Payne along with Timothy Hodge . After strong performances at the National Championships , Chloe was selected for the Para Flippers Development squad for 2023 .

Chloe also represented the Australian Swim Para team in the Para Swimming European Open Championships in Madeira , Portugal earlier this year . This year Chloe is also a NSW Institute of Sport scholarship athlete .

Chloe teachers swimming at Hawkesbury Oasis and is a massive sports nut who is very glad that she could stay active through swimming after playing soccer as a junior prior to her operation .

During the 2024 season in the lead up to the Olympics , Chloe swam a time in the 200m freestyle of 2.36.31 to take out the event and is currently ranked number one in the world in that category .

Timothy Hodge diving into the pool . Credit : Swimming Australia .

She also swam a time of 1.12.01 in Portugal earlier this year in the 100m freestyle to be the 4 th fastest person in her category heading into the Paralympics .

Both Timothy and Chloe are extremely talented swimmers and genuine medal chances who work very hard at ACU Blacktown under the tutelage of Misha Payne . They are excellent representatives of the local Blacktown area with both their achievements and also being ambassadors for young people who have a disability .

Hopefully we will see Timothy and Chloe standing on the celebrating their success representing Blacktown and Australia .

200m , 400m and long jump .

championships in April Telaya jumped

She is quick to boot as well , running

a 5.20m and picked up a silver which

in the Blacktown High Velocity and NSW

she is proud of , considering how much

Juniors competition in March with a Paris

she does in training . She also picked

B qualifying time of 58.95 surpassing the

up a silver in the 400m with a 60.20

B standard of 59.05 . To ensure selection

second run . However , this was outside

in the squad to go to Paris she needs to

the qualifying time of 59.05 that she was

secure additional B qualifiers to make

aiming for to replicate the achievements

the highly competitive Olympic squad ,

of her heroine Cathy Freeman .

and she now faces stiff competition from

To add another layer to the story , she

a range of fellow athletes across various

also plays AFL for Miranda Australian

events and classifications .

Football Club in the Sydney AFL women ’ s

Telaya ran a 61.41 second 400m

competition and is a member of the

on day one of the NSW Junior

QBSE Sydney Swans Academy squad .

championships and got a silver medal .

She represented her school in the NSW

On day two she set

Senior Schools Cup state finals last year

a new U20s record

to become the State Champions with

in the long jump of

Endeavour Sports High School .

5.14m , surpassing

Telaya is the all-round sports person

the previous record

who loves competing with her friends

of 5.09m .

and being a proud Indigenous role

Telaya has the

model for other young Indigenous

support of her

athletes to look up to in the world of

community where

sports . She wants to make her family and

she is now as wellknown

the community proud and represent her

as Cathy

culture . Telaya is on the path to success

Freeman . She also

and with the guidance of her coach and

has the unwavering

family .

support of her

The world is at the feet of this

coach Jacinta Doyle

extremely talented rising Indigenous

and the NSW and

Paralympian star in the world of track

Telaya Blacksmith at Nationals .

Credit : Athletics Australia .

Australian squad .

In the Australian

field like her idol Cathy Freeman , and maybe even in the world of AFLW .

Telaya with her silver medal . Credit : Athletics NSW .