Australian swimmer Ahmed Kelly overcomes disqualification scare to win silver in 150m individual medley (SM3)

Above the surface of the water, Kelly’s stroke might have looked like butterfly, but cameras underwater showed that although he was swimming little differently to some others, he was indeed using the freestyle method.

News came through that Kelly had been reinstated and his medal dream was still alive.

“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 was in the lead by 3.47 seconds with one lap to go but took the silver, two seconds behind Germany’s Josia Topf.

“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.”

He’s right. Kelly, born in Iraq, was living in an orphanage in Baghdad with his brother after being born with underdeveloped arms and legs before being adopted and moving to Australia. He has forged a remarkable career in Paralympic swimming.

“It’s pretty special to be able to have your mate up there two Paralympics in a row,” Patterson said.

Australia picked up three other medals in the pool on Sunday, with Rowan Crothers (silver) and Tom Gallagher (bronze) doing the business in the men’s 100m freestyle (S10). There was also a silver in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay (S14), featuring Jack Ireland, Madeleine McTernan, Ruby Storm and Ben Hance.

Loading

“It’s hard to be too unhappy about that,” said Crothers of his second medal of the Games. “But everything I’ve been doing in training reflects the ability for me to go a lot faster.”

However, the Dolphins are lagging on the swimming medal tally, sitting 14th overall with one gold, four silvers and five bronze. Overall, after four days of Paralympic competition, Australia is in sixth place with six golds.

For the latest results, news and analysis from the Paris Paralympics sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.