Scuba Diving Fan Barlaam Eyes Personal Best To End Paralympic Swimming On A Wave

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Sep, 2024) Italy's Paralympics swimming great Simone Barlaam said he is looking to shatter his personal best for a memorable end to his Games as he races in the 100m butterfly S9 event on Friday.

The 24-year-old has already successfully defended his 50m freestyle S9 gold medal in Paris and claimed silver in the 400m S9, the classification for swimmers with a severe weakness in one leg.

Barlaam's busy schedule in the French capital included finishing in sixth place in Tuesday's 100m backstroke but he is eyeing improving his best of 58.25sec later this week, which he claimed on his way to the world title last year.

"It's a shame, I was a little affected by the efforts of the previous days," Barlaam said.

"I mean I'm looking for a personal best and so that's gonna be interesting," he added.

Barlaam was born with an impairment to his right lower leg and was treated by hospitals in Paris as a child having grown up in Milan.

His time in the French capital led his family to support Les Bleus at the 2006 football World Cup, instead of his home country, who were the eventual winners after a bad-tempered final against the French.

Barlaam's family then spent a year in Australia when he was a teenager as he took his sporting credentials up a level. Living down the road from the local swimming pool, he trained twice a day.

Thanks to his Games record and his 18 world championship titles he has become the poster boy for Italian para swimming.

"I don't really mind that anymore," Barlaam told AFP.

"People don't really care about how many medals or records you set and won in the past you always restart from zero," the fluent English, French and Italian speaker added.

Barlaam, who bears a striking resemblance to his childhood hero, former AC Milan and Brazil footballer Kaka, spends his free time scuba diving having studied mechanical engineering.

"Nosy Be in Madagascar -- that's a great place where I scuba dived and I'm keen to see more," Barlaam said. "Some places in Indonesia and some in Australia but I haven't scuba dived there so that's on the bucket list," he added.

His focus for the present is ending his Games on a high, and getting some rest having brought a mattress topper with him to cushion the cardboard bed in the Athletes' Village.

All of Barlaam's heats so far have started before 10am before the finals more than six hours later.

"I'll sleep on Wednesday morning," Barlaam said.

"Because all these races of mine were the first or second event of the morning so we all woke up at 6am and then maybe ended up late the night before.

"I'll loosen up on that I'll try to do some technique for the races as they come closer," he added.