Ahmed Kelly

Ahmed Kelly (born 18 November 1991) is an Iraqi-born Australian Paralympic swimmer. He has competed at four Paralympics Games, winning two silver medals.

Biography

Nicknamed "Liquid Nails", Kelly was born on 18 November 1991 in Baghdad, Iraq with a double arm and leg deficiency. Until the age of seven, he lived at Baghdad's Mother Teresa Orphanage with his brother, Emmanuel who has a similar disability. In 2013, he commenced studying a Bachelor of Arts at La Trobe University in Melbourne and completed it in 2021.

His brother has appeared on Australia's X-Factor.

He started swimming in 2008, after making a switch from Australian rules football. His best result was fourth in the Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3.

Kelly competed in four events at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games. He placed seventh in Men's 50m Breaststroke SB3 and sixth in Mixed 4 x 50m Freestyle Relay (20 points). He also competed in Men's 50m Backstroke S3 and Men's 150m Individual Medley SM4 but didn't progress to the finals.

At the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships, London, Kelly won the silver medal in the Men's 150m Individual Medley SM3.

Kelly won his first Paralympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, by winning the silver medal in the Men's 150 m individual medley SM3 with a time of 3:02.23, just over 5 seconds slower than the gold medal winner Jesús Hernández Hernández of Mexico. He competed in the Men's 50 m breaststroke SB3 final and finished seventh.

At the 2023 World Para Swimming Championships, Manchester, England, he won the gold medal in the Men's 150m individual medley SM3.

Kelly competed at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, France - his fourth Summer Paralympics. He was initially disqualified after performing butterfly instead of front crawl during the freestyle leg of the Men's 150m medley SM3 heat, but was reinstated after a protest by the Australian delegation was upheld, as any stroke other than breaststroke or backstroke is permitted in the freestyle leg. He would go on to claim Silver in the final. He swam in the Men's 50 m backstroke S3 and Men's 50 m freestyle S3 but did not medal. In 2024, he was awarded a Victorian Institute of Sport Coach Award.

At the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore, he won the silver medal in the Men's 150m medley SM3.