Alexander Graham – Swimming – 2020
Alexander Graham was heartbroken when he missed selection for the 2016 Olympics. So much so he made a promise to himself that it wasn’t going to happen twice.
“I probably didn’t realise the sacrifices and amount of training required to achieve the goal,” the swimmer admitted after bouncing back from the disappointment to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
“My natural ability as a youngster might have masked the hard work required to get to the next level … (and) I kicked myself into gear and really knuckled down.”
Graham is now the epitome of hard work.
As a Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship holder, he combines life as an elite athlete with his studies at Bond University where is completing a Master of Business Administration on the back of a Bachelor of Sport Management.
In the pool, he has established himself as a force at the senior level by winning gold medals in the 4x200m freestyle at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the same event at the 2019 World Championships.
Then came the realisation of his Olympic dream in Tokyo, where he won bronze medals in the 4x100m and 4x200 freestyle relays.