Nick's story

Posted 8 March 2012

Australian swimmer Nick O'Regan in the pool.

Nick O'Regan has travelled to South Africa, Portugal, Taiwan, Ireland, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney with his swimming.

He loves competing, and has a sense of satisfaction when he performs well in the pool.

‘Swimming is my life,' he says.

Nick is competitive, but also values the friendships he has developed through the sport.

‘I like making lots of good friends,' he says.

He also likes to catch his friends off guard at the pool, sometimes hiding their belongings if they aren't paying attention.

‘He hides caps and (swimming) fins, and he's hidden someone's Coke before,' says his dad, Larry.

‘He is a real larrikin, and is always playing jokes on people.'

Nick has taken time away from the pool to try sky diving.

He loves spending time with his family, and friends, when he can.

When he was growing up, Nick swam at the Redcliffe War Memorial Pool, where high performance coach Ken Wood has trained Australian representatives including Leisel Jones and Geoff Huegill.

Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Jessicah Schipper used to train at the same pool, and developed a friendship with Nick.

Jessicah, now an ambassador for the Down Syndrome Down Under Swimming Organisation, presented Nick with medals at the 1st National Swimming Championships and Novice Challenge (Down Syndrome Swimming National Games) in Noosa in 2011.

‘Jess was always really special to Nick,' says Larry.

Nick won 2 gold, 2 silver and a bronze medal at the Down Syndrome Swimming National Games.

He has qualified to compete in multiple events—including the 50m, 100m and 200m breastroke, the 100m and 200m individual medley, and the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle—at the 2012 Down Syndrome World Swimming Championships in Loano, Italy later this year.

At the 2006 Down Syndrome World Swimming Championships, in Limerick, Ireland, Nick befriended the entire Spanish swim team, plus the Spanish coach. They presented him with a gift-a Spanish swimming cap-during the championships.

‘He was wearing the Spanish team cap when he wasn't competing,' says Larry.

Nick's cousins came along to see him swim in Ireland, and his favourite auntie also took him to the theatre.

‘We went to see Mamma Mia,' says Nick.

Nick is looking forward to spending time with his favourite auntie again this year, when he visits Europe to compete in the pool at the Down Syndrome World Swimming Championships.