Rob Parry, from Abergele, hopes to make a splash at the Celtic Tri Nations Tournament this weekend at the Wales National Pool in Swansea (20^th to 22^nd February 2009).

Despite being born with only one lung - and a pint of fluid where the other lung should have been - Rob, now 17, is one of the top swimmers in Wales. He will be aiming to make his mark this weekend over the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle.

He is just one of Swim Wales’ rising stars who will be aiming to overcome Scotland and Ireland.

Born three months premature, it was touch and go for the first few months of his life and mum, Sue – who is also Rob’s coach - knew that exercise would help to ensure a healthy future.

Starting out, Rob could not walk further than a few feet before his lips turned blue. This was down to a lack of oxygen but swimming since he was just 12 months old has helped to build up his stamina.

Rob’s determination, talent and supportive family have helped secure his continuing success as a swimmer even though he still has a concave chest from where the absentee lung should be.

In common with other top athletes such as Paula Radcliffe and Paul Ince, he still suffers with asthma and must take extra care to avoid chest infections which could have a devastating effect on his performance.

"I don’t think of myself as a disabled athlete," says Rob, who took a silver medal at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games with his team-mates in the 4 x 200m freestyle relay. "You just have to get on with it, there are lots of people out there worse off than me who have achieved a lot more.

"My mum’s always saying ‘You don’t get ‘owt for nowt.’ She’s a real hard task master but we work on the preface that you have to work hard to achieve."

An A Level student at Ysgol Glan Clwyd, St Asaph, Rob played regional rugby and ran at county level before plunging all his efforts into swimming. His strict training regime of 4.30am starts for morning training sessions, followed by after school sessions at the Regional Pool in Llandudno might sound arduous but Rob is philosophical about his attraction to the discpiline:

"I like the fairness of the sport – if you’re fast enough your good enough and the clock is not subjective. I like the feeling that it’s me against the clock."

Swim Wales Chief Executive, Robert James, says "Rob has every chance of succeeding in his ambition to compete in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, in the London Olympics in 2012 and beyond."

Meanwhile, Beijing Olympian Tom Haffield, who specialises in the 400m medley relay, will also be racing as will the Welsh Women’s 100m medley relay team who beat England to claim silver at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune.

Sara Lougher (Bridgend) Jaz Carlin (Swansea), Georgia Davies (Swansea) Alys Thomas and Fern Davis also took gold in Pune, once again forcing England to take the bronze, in the 4 x 200m. The 200m relay is not on this weekend’s schedule so they will have to settle for just the one medal opportunity.

Carlin, 18, is already looking forward to the competition:

"It was a great buzz winning gold, I’d never done anything like that before but I’m really looking forward to competing at the Celtic Tri Nations on home ground and at the pool where I train."

The men’s relay team of Robert Parry, Gareth Keating, Tom Allen, and Calum Jarvis also hope to repeat their success in Pune where they held the English team to the bronze position in the 4 x 200m freestyle.

The Welsh Minister for sport, Alun Ffred Jones will be attending the Championships on the final day of competition.

He said: "I was very pleased to hear of the great performances by the Welsh swimmers in the Commonwealth Youth Games in India last October and I’m looking forward to seeing them compete myself, and hopefully getting to meet some of them.

"With the Commonwealth Games coming up next year, it’s great to see these young competitors coming through. It’s fitting that these championships should be happening during half-term when children and young people all over Wales will be able to swim for free, thanks to our free swimming initiative"

Celtic Tri Nations Tournament, Wales National Pool Swansea

20^th to 22^nd February 2009

http://www.welshasa.co.uk/celtic_tri_nations/