WA Athletes of the Year: Ben Popham completes rise from Telethon kid to dual Paralympic gold medallist

As the scent of freshly-thrashed chlorine hung in the air around the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Ben Popham’s emotions spilled over. The camera zoomed in on the new Paralympic men’s 100m freestyle S8 champion, but there was no sign of his trademark, dazzling smile. Tears filled the pool as the 21 year-old who had never won a major championship race up until that point realised the enormity of his victory. The Telethon kid with the Colgate smile had hauled in his first Paralympic gold medal, leaving his opponents thunderstruck as the debutant in the lightning-bolt yellow cap swam the race of his life to seal an incredible, come-from-behind victory. Reflecting on a surreal year, which featured two gold medals, a silver medal and the accompanying post-Paralympics limelight, Popham said he was still coming to terms with ticking off his long-term gold medal goal. “Six months away from the Paralympics, I think most athletes are telling themselves they’re going to win the race and most people will probably believe that, because that’s just the mindset you have to be in,” he said. “But to actually achieve the goal and win the race, the achievement of the goal is what makes it unbelievable. “Because I represent Paralympics Australia and the Paralympics movement, it’s been really exciting to see how many people want to hear my story, want to know what’s happened. They’re really invested in Paralympics, which is really nice to see.” As the field torpedoed into the water and found their rhythm during his freestyle final, gliding through the water like scissors through wrapping paper, Popham trailed behind the main pack. He reached the 50m mark in fifth spot and to the untrained eye, his gold medal hopes looked to be sinking. But that was all part of the plan. “What he’s actually doing is swimming exactly the same speed down the pool, but because of the way he’s been trained, he can come back at the same pace,” Popham’s coach Simon Redmond told The West Australian in August. “When you look at a race, if he goes down a pool in 30 seconds, he’s actually gone down in 28 seconds, because of the dive, and then he comes back in the same 28 seconds. “His second half is because he’s been able to hold his first 50m speed the whole way through a 100m race.” Redmond and Popham had plotted out the strategy for some time and in Tokyo, the plan was executed to perfection; while his first 50m split was 28.27 seconds, he swam the second half in 29:10 seconds – a difference of just over 0.8 seconds. In the blink of an eye, Popham burst through the field and by the 75m mark, he had pulled alongside the leaders and was still moving through the gears. He hit the front with the finish line in sight and held off a late rally to claim the gold by just 0.32 seconds. A few days later, there was less tears but more joy when Popham took to the pool once more alongside Rowan Crothers, William Martin and Matthew Levy in the S34 4x100m freestyle final. After his teammates raced out to a commanding lead, Popham anchored the relay and it looked as if he would cruise to his second gold medal of the games. But the Italians had other ideas, as Stefano Raimondi – an S10 swimmer with a much quicker personal best than Popham - gradually whittled down the near-eight second lead the Aussies held. Raimondi halved the deficit with 50m to go, and all of a sudden, Australian gold looked anything but secure. However, Popham’s status as an elite second 50m swimmer once again came to the fore, as he held off the challenge, proving his mettle to win his second goal medal of the games – helping the Australian team shatter the world record by almost four seconds in the process. There was further delight a few days later when he helped the S34 4x100m medley relay team to a silver medal, again finishing strongly to help the Australians leap from third place to second on the final leg. Popham is the sort of athlete who it is easy to root for. His trademark luscious locks make him look more surfer than swimmer and his laconicism belies not only kid-in-a-candy shop levels of enthusiasm, but a desire to work, get better and keeping winning. Born with diplegic cerebral palsy, Popham was first thrust into the spotlight as a 2011 Little Telethon Star and upon returning home from Tokyo, was eager to hit the charity trail in the lead-up to this year’s event, eagerly recounting the impact the fundraiser had on his life. His popularity among his fellow swimmer is evident: his roommate, best friend and relay teammate Crothers confessed he had been more nervous about Popham’s races than he had been about his own. At the Marmion local’s homecoming party, he was greeted by a swarm of well-wishers, many of whom were clubmates from Arena Swim Club, at his official homecoming party. The whirlwind past few months of stardom have coincided with a “blissful” and “guilt-free” holiday for Popham, but now back in the water, it is full steam ahead as he eyes another medal at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships, to be held in Madeira in June. 2022 also begins the start of a new Paralympic cycle for Popham, a two-and-a-half year countdown towards defending his title in Paris as he reconciles with going from the hunter to the hunted. Unfortunately for his rivals, Popham has grander plans than ‘just’ winning back-to-back Paralympic gold medals. “The next few years is going to be about changing my current race to where we want it to be in Paris. It’s more front of mind than in the back, just because the race I’ll put together in Paris is going to be hopefully, really, really good,” he said. “It’s about getting the race from where it is now to ideally world record time.”