Australian Paralympic swimmer Ahmed Kelly thought his quest for redemption from the Tokyo Games was over when he was briefly disqualified in the 150m medley SM3 at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris on Sunday.
The four-time Paralympian — who was born with underdeveloped arms and legs and is missing both arms below the elbow and both legs below the knee — finished second in his heat to secure silver behind fellow Aussie swimmer Grant Patterson, but was disqualified as the judges believed he performed a butterfly stroke, instead of freestyle in the final lap.
In the 150m individual medley at the Paralympics, swimmers must complete one lap each of backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
Kelly’s disqualification was overturned when underwater cameras — used to help officials judge the event — showed he had performed the freestyle method in the final leg of the race.
“The day has been quite challenging,” the 32-year-old Kelly said after his silver medal was reinstated.
Kelly explained that he had been on a redemption tour for gold after winning silver in the same event in Tokyo.
“The reason surprised me because I’ve been to four Games, and they couldn’t get it right today for some reason,” Kelly said. “They make mistakes. Officials are humans. We put that put behind us and tried to put a real good race on tonight.
“Once the decision was overturned, it was all full focus for that final. It definitely didn’t impact that race. I’ve got quite a unique freestyle [stroke] that may look like it’s butterfly, but in fact … it’s not exactly butterfly.”
Kelly finished 3.47 seconds behind Germany’s Josia Topf, who took home gold in the event.
“I’ve been working for the last three years for that gold and redemption from Tokyo silver,” Kelly said. “The disqualification couldn’t really throw me completely off the rails. I’ve gone through a lot worse.”
Before becoming an Olympian, Kelly was living in an orphanage in Baghdad, Iraq, with his brother Emmanuel.
The brothers were exposed to chemical weapons in utero and were born with severely underdeveloped limbs, according to Paralympics Australia.
Australians Rowan Crothers and Tom Gallagher won silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s 100m freestyle (S10) on Sunday.
Aussies Jack Ireland, Madeleine McTernan, Ruby Storm and Ben Hance secured silver in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay (S14).