Born in 1991 with significant disabilities in all four limbs, Ahmed Kelly was left at a Baghdad orphanage where he spent the majority of the first seven years of his life. Then in 1998, he met Moira Kelly from the Children’s First Foundation, who brought Ahmed and his brother Emmanuel, also born with limb deficiencies, to Australia for medical treatment.

Maddison Elliot is just like any 13-year-old girl. She likes to skip, talk to her friends and play with her ipad. But unlike most 12-year-olds, Maddison is making a splash on the international swimming stage.

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy which affects her right side when she was four, Maddison is aiming to compete at the Paralympic Games and is the youngest member of the Australian shadow squad for the London 2012 Paralympics.

Maddison made her international debut at the 2009 Youth Paralympic Games in Melbourne, where she won a stunning five gold medals.

Matthew Cowdrey is on the verge of becoming Australia’s most successful Paralympian in history, cementing him as one of the biggest names in Australian and world swimming. With eight gold medals, five silver, and two bronze to his name from two Games, the 23-year-old needs just three more gold medals in London to surpass athletics star Tim Sullivan (10 gold from three Games) as Australia’s most prolific Paralympic gold medallist.

Teigan Van Roosmalen loves the water. She is a professional swimmer, loves surfing and going to the beach and is also a surf lifesaver. At just 19, she is on her way up in the world of swimming and has a prosperous career ahead.

As the oldest member of the Australian 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships swim squad, 31 year old Tanya Huebner is looking to prove herself to her younger fellow swimmers when she steps up for five events in Eindhoven.

Tanya, who is a primary school teacher, will be competing in the 100m breaststroke, 100m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 50m butterfly and 50m freestyle. With consistently improving form, the Victorian is hoping to continue her recent success at the 2010 Australian Short Course Championships, where she won gold in the 50m and 100m breaststroke.

At five years old, Sean Russo took up swimming to help improve his asthma. Now almost fifteen years later, Sean is representing Australia for the first time at the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships in Eindhoven.

Competing in the 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly, 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle and the 200m individual medley, Sean is aiming to win medals as he attempts to qualify for the London Paralympic Games in 2012.

Like most Australian children, 22-year-old Richard Eliason learnt to swim at a young age in order to keep his head above the water. But what began as a basic safety precaution turned into a life-long love affair with the water.

Richard has come a long way from his early days in the pool and burst on to the international swimming circuit, with a 200m breaststroke silver medal at the 2005 INAS-FID Global Games.

Nicknamed ‘Pipes’, swimmer Peter Leek is determined to make a mark for himself. He left that mark in Beijing where he squashed the dreams of many swimmers by winning a medal in each of his events which included three gold, four silver and one bronze medal.

When Patrick Donachie won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, little did he know that it would be 12 years before he would again have a chance to represent Australia at a Paralympic Games.

After 2000, athletes with an intellectual disability were banned from the Paralympic Games when the Spanish men’s basketball team was found to include athletes who did not have disabilities. Patrick is now the only remaining member of the Sydney 2000 swim team who still swims competitively.

Daughter of Australian swimming legend Steve Holland, Nerice Holland is also making waves in the pool.

Nerice, who has an intellectual disability, showed her talent in the pool from an early age, starting swimming at just six months. Encouraged to pursue her talents by her parents, at 19 Nerice won five gold, three silver and one bronze medal at the 2007 INAS-FID World Championships in Belgium.