Jack Swift
2012 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Swift
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1985-08-08) 8 August 1985
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportParalympic athletics
Paratriathlon

Jack Swift (born 8 August 1985) is an Australian athletics competitor and paratriathlete. He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics in the 400m and 4 × 100 m events.

Personal

Swift was born on 8 August 1985,[1] and is from the Melbourne[2] suburb of Ivanhoe[3] in Victoria.[4][5] He attended Marcellin College,[3] and played Australian rules football while at school.[3]

In 2006,[3] Swift lost the lower part of his right leg when he was twenty-one years old after an accident while at work,[2][3][6] "when a 14-tonne excavator fell and crushed his right leg".[3] Prior to his accident, he was a plumber's labourer.[3] He was a finalist for the 2011 Victorian Cleo Bachelor of the Year.[5] In February 2011, he was on the cover of Australian Men's Health.[2] He pursued a degree in exercise-science[2][3] from Deakin University.[3] As of 2012, he works as a personal trainer.[2]

Athletics

Swift competes in the T44 athletics classification.[1] He became involved with athletics as a form of personal mental health improvement following his accident,[2][3] and had not competed in athletics prior to his accident.[3]

Swift competing in athletics at the 2012 London Paralympics

In 2011, Swift was training as much as twenty-five hours a week.[3] In the 2011 Victorian Athletic League, he participated in the Athletes With a Disability 120m event, the only event open to athletes with disability during the season.[7] In 2011, he was an Australian national ambulant 100m and 200m finalist.[7] At the 2011 Australian Athletics Championships, he finished third in the 200m wheelchair race final.[5] He assisted in unveiling the 2012 Australian Paralympic athletics uniform.[8][9] He did this at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia Spring/Summer 2012/13 on day two at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal on 1 May 2012.[9] He was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in athletics[1][2][4] in the 400m and 4 × 100 m events.[6] He did not medal at the 2012 Games.

Paratriathlon

In April 2013, Swift raced his first sprint distance triathlon.[10][11] Based on his performance in this race, he was selected in Australia's 2013 ITU Triathlon World Championships paratriathlon team.[12] Like several other selected Australian athletes, he did not race. Swift competed in the 2014 Australian and Oceania Paratriathlon Championships, placing 2nd in the TRI-5 (moderate leg impairment) classification.[13] He also placed second TRI-5 in the ITU World Paratriathlon event in Elwood.[14] At the 2014 ITU World Triathlon Series Final in Edmonton, Canada, he finished eleventh in the Men's PT4.[15] In January 2015, Swift won the Oceania Paratriathlon Championships PT4 event at Penrith, New South Wales.[16] At the 2015 World Triathlon Series Final in Chicago, Swift finished twelfth in the Men's PT4.[17]

Swift now aims to qualify for paratriathlon at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Jack Swift | APC Corporate". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Jack Swift headed to London Paralympics". Men's Health Magazine. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Bernecich, Adrian. "Young Ivanhoe athlete in the running for Games glory". Heidelberg Leader. News Community Media. Archived from the original on 26 November 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  4. 1 2 Dutton, Chris (6 June 2012). "Canberra's Paralympic athletes aim for Games glory". The Canberra Times. Australian Capital Territory.
  5. 1 2 3 "Patmore closes Nationals with victory | APC Corporate". Australian Paralympic Committee. 17 April 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Paralympic athletes embrace role model status". ABC News. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Ballarat Gift cements place". The Courier. Ballarat. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  8. ↑ Nearmy, Tracey (2 May 2012). Image: Australian Paralympic team uniforms launched. ABC News (Photograph). Australian Associated Press. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Paralympians Jack Swift And Kelly Cartwright Showcase The... News Photo | Getty Images AU | 143609772". Getty Images. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
  10. ↑ "2013-12 Gatorade Triathlon Series Race 6 St Kilda - Jack Swift".
  11. ↑ Video on YouTube
  12. ↑ "2013 ITU Female and Male Age-Group World Championship Paratriathlon Team" (PDF). Triathlon Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2014.
  13. ↑ "Australian Paratriathlon Championships - results". Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  14. ↑ "2014 Elwood ITU World Paratriathlon Event : Paratriathlon Male TRI-5 : Results". Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  15. ↑ "Results". 2014 ITU Grand Final Edmonton website. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  16. ↑ "brave rain swept Neapean to Conquer Oceania Championships". triathlon.org.au. Triathlon Australia News. 13 January 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  17. ↑ "2015 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Chicago : Sep 18 2015 : Men's PT4 : Results". International Triathlon Union. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  18. ↑ "About Jack". Archived from the original on 9 March 2014.
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