 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Matthew John Levy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Australian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 11 January 1987 Sydney, New South Wales | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Swimming | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Freestyle, butterfly, medley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classifications | S7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | North Sydney Swimming Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Steve Badger | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Matthew John Levy, OAM (born 11 January 1987) is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.
Levy has cerebral palsy and a vision impairment due to being born 15 weeks premature. [1] [2] He attended St Andrew's Cathedral School in Sydney. [3] He works at Westpac Bank, is on the board of directors of the New South Wales disability organisation Ability Options, and lives in Sydney. [1] [4]
He completed a Bachelor of Business at Swinburne University of Technology in 2015 and a Master of Business Administration at the University of Canberra in 2021. [5] In 2020, he released a memoir/self-help book, Keeping Your Head Above Water: Inspirational Insights From a Champion. [6]
Levy is classified as an S7 swimmer. [1] [7] Levy first competed for Australia in 2003; that year, he broke the 200 m freestyle short course world record. [1] He competed but did not win any medals at the 2004 Athens Games. [8] He competed at the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships and won four silver and four bronze medals at the 2007 Telstra Short Course Championships. [1] At the 2008 Beijing Games, he won a gold medal in the 4×100 m medley relay 34 pts event. [8] At the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships, he won a gold medal in the 4×100 m freestyle relay event, two silver medals in the 100 m breaststroke and 100 m freestyle events, and two bronze medals in the 50 m butterfly and 200 m individual medley events.
At the 2012 London Paralympics he won five medals: a gold medal in the 4×100 m freestyle relay, a silver medal in the 100 m freestyle S7, and three bronze medals in the 200 m individual medley SM7, 100 m breaststroke SB7 and 4×100 m medley relay. [8] He also participated in the 400 m freestyle S7, 50 m butterfly S7 and 50 m freestyle S7 events. [8]
Competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, he won two gold medals in the 200 m individual medley S7 and 4×100 m freestyle relay and a silver medal in the 100 m freestyle S7. [9] [10]
At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships, he won silver medals in the Men's 100 m freestyle S7 and 200 m medley SM7 and bronze medals in the Men's 50 m freestyle S7 and Men's 4×100 m freestyle relay 34 points. [11] [12] [13] [14] He finished fourth in the men's 100 m breaststroke SB7, men's 50 m butterfly S7 and men's 4 × 100 m medley relay 34pts. [15]
At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the bronze medal in the Men's 200 m Individual Medley SM7. He placed fourth in the Men's 50 m Freestyle S7 and Men's 100 m Freestyle S7, fifth in the Men's 50 m Butterfly S7, fourth in the Men's 4×100 m Medley Relay (34 points) and fifth in the Men's 4×100 m Freestyle (34 Points). [16]
At the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, he won gold in the Men's 50m Freestyle (S7). [17]
At the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in London, he came third (winning the bronze medal) in the Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle (34 points), came fourth in the Men's 4 × 100 m Medley (34 points), fifth in the Men's 200m Individual Medley (SM7) and Men's 100m Freestyle (S7), sixth in the Men's 400m Freestyle (S7) and seventh in the Men's 100m Breaststroke (SB6) (Oceania Record). [17]
As of 2015 [update] , he is a New South Wales Institute of Sport scholarship holder. [18]
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Levy won gold in the Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle 34 pts, along with Rowan Crothers, William Martin and Ben Popham, breaking the current World Record by almost 2 seconds. [19] He also won a bronze medal in the Men's 100 m breaststroke SB6. [20] [21]
Levy won two medals – gold in the Mixed 4 × 100 m medley relay 34 pts and bronze in the Men's 50 m Freestyle S7 at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, Madeira. [22]
He competed at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, where he won the gold medal in the Men's 50 m Freestyle S7. He announced his retirement from swimming at the games. [23]
Levy was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2014 Australia Day Honours "for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games." [2] In 2015, he was named Athlete of the Year with a Disability at the New South Wales Sport Awards. [24] In October 2018, he was named Swimming Australia's Paralympic Program Swimmer of the Year. [25] In November 2021, he received a New South Wales Institute of Sport Academic Excellence Award. [26] He was named the 2021 Sport NSW Athlete of the Year with a Disability. [27] In November 2023, Levy was inducted into the University of Canberra Sports Walk of Fame. [28]
Matthew John Cowdrey is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.
Jessica Tatiana Long is a Russian-born American Paralympic swimmer from Baltimore, Maryland, who competes in the S8, SB7 and SM8 category events. She has held many world records and competed at six Paralympic Games, winning 30 medals. She has won over 50 world championship medals.
David Evan Roberts CBE, is a Welsh swimmer. An eleven-time Paralympic gold medallist, he is one of Great Britain's most successful Paralympians ever.
Matthew "Matt" Benedict Walker MBE is a British swimmer who has participated in four Paralympic Games, winning eleven medals. He competes in the S7, SM7 (medley) and SB7 (breaststroke) classifications.
Brenden Hall, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He competed at the, 2008 Beijing Paralympics, 2012 London Paralympics, 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and the 2024 Paris Paralympics. At the end of the Paris Paralympics, he had won three gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
Blake Cochrane, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. He won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, two gold medals at the 2012 London Paralympics, a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and a silver and one bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Rick Pendleton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer from Sydney. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, his fourth Games.
Chantel Louise Wolfenden, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. Born in the New South Wales town of Lithgow, she started to swim at the age of five as therapy for cerebral palsy. She underwent three operations to cut and lengthen her achilles tendon.
Matthew Anthony "Matt" Haanappel, is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He was born in Wantirna, Victoria and resides in the far eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He has cerebral palsy right hemiplegia. Haanappel has represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships, the 2014 Pan Pacific Para Swimming Championships, the 2016 Summer Paralympics, and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He represents the Camberwell Grammar School Aquatic club.
Grant Patterson is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, his second games, he won a silver and bronze medal. At the 2024 Paris Paralympics, he won two bronze medals.
Nikita Stevie Howarth is a New Zealand para-cyclist and para-swimmer. She became New Zealand's youngest ever Paralympian after being selected for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, aged 13 years 8 months. She again represented New Zealand at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where she won the gold medal in the women's 200 metre individual medley SM7 and the bronze medal in the women's 50 metre butterfly S7.
Jesse Aungles is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo and the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Joshua Powell Hofer, OAM is an Australian swimmer with an intellectual disability. At the 1992 Paralympic Games for Persons with Mental Handicap, he won eleven medals - five gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
Tiffany Thomas Kane, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, winning a gold and three bronze medals, and at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a further two bronze medals.
Timothy Malcolm Disken, is an Australian paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships and won bronze in the men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won a gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle S9, a silver medal in the men's S9 50m freestyle and a bronze medal in the men's 200m individual medley SM9. He also competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Denis Tarasov is a Paralympic swimmer from Russia competing mainly in category S8 events. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London he won five medals, including gold in the 50 metre freestyle S8 event. He has represented Russia at two IPC World Championships with a total of 12 medals. At the 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships in Glasgow he set four world records, two as part of Russian relay teams and two individual records, in the 50m and 100m freestyle S8 events.
Timothy Hodge is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He has represented Australia at the 2016, 2020, and 2024 Summer Paralympics, where he won two gold, three silver and one bronze medals.
Tess Routliffe is a Canadian Paralympic swimmer and winner of multiple world championship and Paralympic medals. She represented Canada at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, where she won the silver medal in the women's 200 m individual medley SM7.
Isabella Vincent is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. At the age of fifteen, she was the youngest Australian swimmer selected for the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, where she won a silver and bronze medal.
Mark Malyar is an Israeli Paralympic champion and world champion para swimmer. As of 2024, he had won four world championships and set four world records. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, he won two gold medals while setting two world records. He competed for Israel at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, and won a bronze medal in the Men's 100 metre backstroke S8.
