Getting to know Ahmed Kelly

Ahmed Kelly is a Paralympic Swimmer who will be competing in his fourth Paralympic Games this year in Paris. Ahmed trains with Yarra Plenty Waves, and is a regular at MSAC for the use of our training facilities.

We caught up with Ahmed right before he took off Paris where he’ll be looking to add to his medal collection.

Congratulations on your selection for the fourth time to the Australian team. What does it mean to be selected again?

It’s always exciting to make the Australian, team, to do it the fourth time, it’s just extra special. I’m really looking forward to going over to Paris and representing Australia.

What are your goals for the Games?

My goal for the Paris 2024 Paralympics is to really give it everything I have, to finish up on the podium again and hoping it’s going to be a gold medal. To go one better than Tokyo would be so amazing.

Have you been to Paris before?

I have been to Paris before, we went last year for our preparation towards the World Championships. I got to do a bit of sightseeing, I’m also looking forward to to doing that a bit again, this year. There’s a few areas I didn’t quite get to I’m so excited to get over to Paris and do some sight seeing.

What are you most looking forward to about getting to the city?

I’m looking forward to seeing the Paralympic Village set up there, and really looking forward to seeing the aquatics pool as well. It’s been amazing to watch it on TV for the for the Olympians. I can’t wait to go there myself and to check it out and represent Australia, represent my club, it’s going to be absolutely amazing.

Your nickname is ‘Liquid Nails’, how did that come to be?

My nickname, ‘Liquid Nails’ came about from my footy friends. I used to play footy, I really enjoyed it and then when I gave that up and started up swimming, and they said “Well we can’t call you ‘Nails’ anymore, but what we can do is call you ‘liquid nails’.”I just go hard at it in the pool, and I’ve been trying to do that since they created that nickname, which has been pretty cool.

You’re a regular here at MSAC, training and competing, what do you love about getting to prepare for the Games here?

I’ve been so fortunate to be a part of the MSAC community and MSAC facilities since building towards the London Paralympic Games. I really enjoy coming here because it’s a high performance centre, and really to get the the best out of my swimming and to really make sure we sharpen those skills, and rehearse what we want to do at a global event.