Like fine wine, 33-year-old Matthew Levy is better with age.

Like fine wine, 33-year-old Matthew Levy is better with age.

Born 15 weeks prematurely, with cerebral palsy and a vision impairment, Matthew has survived 50-plus operations – brain, heart, lungs, ears … you name it – to become the international swim star he is today.

As is the case for the vast majority of Paralympic swimmers, Matthew found the pool as part of his rehabilitation – to keep his body moving. But it was in 2000, when he realised he could be competitive, that the next 20 years of his life began to take shape.

Matthew made his Paralympic debut in 2004 and won his first medal – gold in the men’s 4x100m medley 34 Points – in 2008. A five-strong haul at the 2010 International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships preceded his most successful Games campaign to date, with Matthew returning home from England’s London Aquatics Centre in 2012 with one gold, one silver and three bronze medals, and in 2016, he won a bronze medal in the men’s 200m individual medley SM7.

As the reigning Commonwealth Games champion in the men’s 50m freestyle S7, and current S7 world record holder in the men’s 200m freestyle, Matthew entered the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as a strong medal contender.

Swimming in the men’s 50m freestyle S7, he finished in fifth with a time of 28.39. He secured the bronze medal in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB6 with a time of 1:21.10 to finish in third.

His fifth Paralympic campaign came to an exciting end when he joined teammates Rowan Crothers, William Martin, and Ben Popham to win the gold medal in the men’s 4x100m freestyle 34 points relay. The Australian team smashed the world record by nearly two seconds with a time of 3:44.31.

Outside the pool, Matthew is a member of Paralympics Australia’s Mob Leadership Team, and WorldPara-swimming‘s and Commonwealth Games Australia’s Athlete Advisory Groups.