England-born Hamish McLean’s parents moved to Auckland when he was three. A year later he learned to swim. Next year he’s going to the Tokyo Paralympics, aged 20. 

“At the end of 2009 we moved from Auckland down to Wānaka, where I joined the Wānaka Swim Club nearly straight away. I initially did it to learn how to swim, as water is such an important part of New zealand. It wasn’t until 2011 when I went to my first national competition that I started to become really focused on competitive swimming,” he said. 

By then he’d already been identified as ‘part of the Para swimming talent identification programme’, according to the Paralympics New Zealand website.

Focus is a word that is a very apt word for the young man. “Yes, I think I have been pretty focused on things throughout my life,” he said. “At school I had to train a lot; this meant that I had to be very organised to fit everything in.” And he still fits everything in, like studying for an engineering degree at the University of Canterbury because he enjoys maths and science. 

And then, in 2016, there was suddenly a slot for him to go to the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil. “It felt like I didn't have too many expectations on myself, which was really nice. When I was doing the 400 freestyle final, where I broke the [Oceania] record, I thought I was going fast but didn't realize I was going to break the record. I was stoked to get that time,” he said. 

“I learnt that if you put enough hard work into something and you focus on something, you can achieve what you want and sometimes even do better than you think.”

The people he credits most with his success are his parents. “They have helped me since the very start of my swimming career and pushed me to try hard in both swimming and education. It is great to have them supporting me all the time.”

His exercise regime is typically intense. “I have a schedule of nine sessions a week. It is very hard to fit all the training in with university studies, but I manage in the end. And yes, it will probably get busier towards Tokyo 2020.”