Maddison Elliott is just like any teenager. She likes to skip, talk to her friends and play with her ipad. But unlike most girls her age, Maddison is making a splash on the international swimming stage.

Diagnosed with cerebral palsy that affects her right side when she was four, at 13 Maddison became the youngest Australian Paralympian to win a gold medal in London, when she won gold as part of the 4x100m freestyle relay as well as silver in the 50m freestyle and bronze in the 100m and 400m freestyle.

Having completed a stunning debut Games campaign, Maddison also enjoyed brief worldwide fame when she was snapped meeting Great Britain’s Prince Harry in the stands at the Paralympic swimming pool.

Since her junior international debut at the 2009 Youth Paralympic Games in Melbourne, Maddison has been one to watch in the pool. She won five gold medals in Melbourne then competed at the 2011 Oceania Paralympic Championships before taking on girls her own age at the Australian Multi-Class Age Swimming Championships in Canberra, where she won three gold medals, five silver and one bronze.

Maddison looks to Olympic and Paralympic swimmers Alicia Coutts, Ellie Cole and Teigan van Roosmalen for inspiration and says she wouldn’t be half the swimmer she is if it wasn’t for her mother and grandmother who do everything for her.

With her first Games now behind her, Maddison has set herself a goal of competing at five more Paralympics before retiring at the ripe age of 33.