Matthew John Levy, (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.

Personal

Levy has

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

and a vision impairment due to being born 15 weeks

premature Premature may refer to: * ''Premature'' (2014 film), an American comedy film * ''Premature'' (2019 film), an American romantic drama film * '' PREMature'', a 2015 British television drama miniseries See also * Premature aging, of an organism * ...

. He attended

St Andrew's Cathedral School St Andrew's Cathedral School is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Mixed-sex education, co-educational comprehensive education, comprehensive and specialist Primary school, primary and Seconda ...

in Sydney. He works at

Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

, is on the board of directors of the New South Wales disability organisation Ability Options, and lives in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. He completed a Bachelor of Business at

Swinburne University of Technology The Swinburne University of Technology (or simply Swinburne) is a public university, public research university in Melbourne, Australia. It is the modern descendant of the Eastern Suburbs Technical College established in 1908, renamed Swinburne ...

in 2015 and a Master of Business Administration at the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

in 2021. In 2020, he released a memoir/self-help book, ''Keeping Your Head Above Water: Inspirational Insights From a Champion''.

Competitive career

Levy is classified as an S7 swimmer. Levy first competed for Australia in 2003; that year, he broke the 200 m freestyle short course world record. He competed but did not win any medals at the 2004 Athens Games. He competed at the 2006

IPC Swimming World Championships The World Para Swimming Championships, known also as the IPC Swimming World Championships, are the world championships for swimming where athletes with a disability compete. They are organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Prev ...

and won four silver and four bronze medals at the 2007

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

Short Course Championships. At the 2008 Beijing Games, he won a gold medal in the 4×100 m medley relay 34 pts event. At the

2010 IPC Swimming World Championships The 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships was the sixth edition of the IPC Swimming World Championships, an international swimming competition, the biggest meet for athletes with a disability since the 2008 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Eind ...

, 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. He also participated in the 400 m freestyle S7, 50 m butterfly S7 and 50 m freestyle S7 events. Competing at the

2013 IPC Swimming World Championships The 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships was the seventh IPC Swimming World Championships, an international swimming competition, the biggest meet for athletes with a disability since the 2012 Summer Paralympics. It was held in Montreal, Quebec, ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, 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. At the

2015 IPC Swimming World Championships The 2015 IPC Swimming World Championships was the eighth IPC Swimming World Championships, an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Glasgow, United Kingdom and took place from 13 to 19 July. Around 580 ...

, 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. 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. At the

2016 Rio Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 Sept ...

, 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). At the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, he won gold in the Men's 50m Freestyle (S7). At the

2019 World Para Swimming Championships The 2019 World Para Swimming Championships was the tenth edition of the World Para Swimming Championships run by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The championships were held from February to June in seven countries across five contine ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, he came third (winning the bronze medal) in the Men's Freestyle (34 points), came fourth in the Men's 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). , he is a

New South Wales Institute of Sport The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) is a high-performance-sports training institute in New South Wales, Australia. The New South Wales government agency provides coaching, performance support, and daily training environments to help t ...

scholarship holder. At the

2020 Tokyo Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

, Levy won gold in the Men's freestyle 34 pts, along with

Rowan Crothers Rowan Crothers (born 24 October 1997) is an Australian freestyle swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and 2024 Paris Paralympics. He won two gold and one silver medals at the Tokyo Paralympic ...

, William Martin and

Ben Popham Ben Popham (born 4 September 2000) is an Australian Paralympic swimmer. He represented Australia at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships, winning a silver and two bronze medals, and the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, where he won two g ...

, breaking the current World Record by almost 2 seconds. He also won a bronze medal in the Men's 100 m breaststroke SB6. 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 The 2022 World Para Swimming Championships was the 11th edition of the World Para Swimming Championships, an international swimming competition for athletes with a disability. It was held in Madeira from 12 to 18 June. The competition was origin ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

. 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.

Recognition

Levy was awarded a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

in the

2014 Australia Day Honours The 2014 Australia Day Honours were announced on 26 January 2014 by the Governor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce. The Australia Day Honours are the first of the two major annual honours lists, announced on Australia Day (26 January), with the ...

"for service to sport as a Gold Medallist at the London 2012 Paralympic Games." In 2015, he was named Athlete of the Year with a Disability at the New South Wales Sport Awards. In October 2018, he was named

Swimming Australia Swimming Australia is the peak governing body for competitive swimming in Australia. The body has approximately 100,000 registered members nationally in 1100 clubs across the country, which includes swimmers, coaches, officials, administrators ...

's Paralympic Program Swimmer of the Year. In November 2021, he received a New South Wales Institute of Sport Academic Excellence Award. He was named the 2021 Sport NSW Athlete of the Year with a Disability. In November 2023, Levy was inducted into the

Sports Walk of Fame.

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Matthew Levy
at

(archived 2019-03-30
2017-04-04
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Matt 1987 births 20th-century Australian sportsmen 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian Institute of Sport Paralympic swimmers Australian blind people Australian male backstroke swimmers Australian male breaststroke swimmers Australian male butterfly swimmers Australian male freestyle swimmers Australian male medley swimmers Cerebral palsy-category Paralympic competitors Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists in swimming Living people Male Paralympic swimmers for Australia Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the World Para Swimming Championships Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Paralympic bronze medalists for Australia Paralympic gold medalists for Australia Paralympic medalists in swimming Paralympic silver medalists for Australia Paralympic swimmers with a vision impairment Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia S7-classified para swimmers Sportsmen from New South Wales Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Swimmers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Swimmers from Sydney Swimmers with cerebral palsy Swinburne University of Technology alumni University of Canberra alumni