From medical miracle to medal marvel
Teen swim sensation Holly Warn is off to the world champs - but it has been no easy road
to“
I want be a great person, not just a great athlete. I want to ensure kids with disabilities know anything is possible
Perhaps it’s no surprise that 15year-old Holly Warn is a natural competitor. After all, her father was a premiership-winning cricket captain and her grandfather an Olympic rower, so you might assume the Year 9 student was simply born to succeed in sports.
But you would be wrong. Because before Holly was even born, she experienced a stroke in-utero and at the age of four months she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
The condition affects movements on the left side of her body and doctors warned her parents, Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn and wife Marg, that Holly may never walk or talk.
Yet two months later, at just 26 weeks of age, she started swimming.
And she hasn’t stopped, calling the pool her “happy place”.
Just last week at the Australian Age Championships, held at the Southport Aquatic Centre, she won an incredible four gold medals for the 400m and 100m freestyle and 100m and 50m backstroke, as well as a silver medal for the 50m freestyle, all in her S7 division.
On Tuesday, she jets off to Portugal after being selected to compete as part of the Swimming Australia team in the World Para European championships.
Competing in the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle, her focus will be on the latter two events – the races she hopes will become her ticket to the Paris Paralympics this September.
In fact, on Holly’s phone are two countdowns – one until the opening of the Paralympics, and one until the official Paralympics Australia swimming trials in Brisbane (58 days from today, FYI).
While she did trial for the Tokyo Paralympics, back when she was just 12 years old, that was to gain experience … this time it could well be the real deal.
Already her chances are looking good, with Holly not only swimming personal bests at the Australian Age Championships, but also two seconds under Paralympic qualifying time.
But chatting with Holly and mum Marg on a sunny school holiday morning, one in which she’s already completed hours of training before heading back to the pool in the afternoon for more, I’m laughingly warned not to focus too much on the Paris Games.
“I don’t want to jinx it,” said Holly, who is the youngest member of the Swimming Australia team heading to Portugal, and who will be the youngest Australian swimmer if (and when) she is selected for the Paris Paralympics.
“It’s always been my dream to represent Australia in the Paralympics, ever since I was seven years old and watched Maddison Elliott at the Rio Games.
“But I try not to think too far ahead, I just get in the water and swim as hard as I can every time.”
Marg said the family have always ensured that Holly stayed focused on the process, rather than the results.
She said they wanted to see Holly swimming because she loved it, and to work on improving rather than winning.
On both counts, Holly is succeeding.
“I have never once had to get Holly out of bed to go to training,” said Marg.
“Even on holidays if we’re travelling, she’ll get herself up and go down to the hotel pool. She is driven.
“We’ve loved watching her achieve so many goals, but the better she gets, the e harder it is for us on n the sidelines – it’s hard not to get nervous now.”
For both Marg and John, it’s been a marathon event to watch their daughter, the second of four children, grow stronger and more confident every year.
The emotion is clear in Marg’s eyes when talking about the day more than 14 years ago when they learned of Holly’s diagnosis.
She said it’s still not known why Holly had a stroke inutero, and it was months after her birth when they noticed she was not using her left hand that they received the diagnosis.
“That’s when we found out she had cerebral palsy, and of course doctors immediately tell you all the things she won’t be able to do,” said Marg.
“But she’s spent every day since proving them wrong.”
However, Holly suffered her greatest physical setback last year, when a diagnosis of epilepsy kept her out of the water.
Now that she’s on the right medication and not experiencing seizures, Holly can recount with deadpan wit the h somewhat-traumatic story of just how she was diagnosed this time.
“I was on the tram with my sister, my older sister thank goodness, when I suddenly had a seizure,” said Holly, rolling her eyes.
“Luckily there was a nurse on board who looked after us and she called triple-0, but it was not the best day I’ve ever had.
“The doctor had to use the CCTV from the tram to officially diagnose that, yes, that was a seizure.
“But the hard part was finding the right medication, for a while I couldn’t put my head down to swim because it made me so dizzy, I just had to kick and kick.
“I’m just so glad that happened last year and I had time to get over it and get back into training, it would have been awful if that happened this year.”
While the Paris Paralympics seem well within Holly’s grasp, she also has her eye on LA in 2028 and, of course, Brisbane in 2032.
With Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate pushing for the city to host more 2032 events,
Marg said the family would love to see swimming held at our own Southport Aquatic Centre.
“Wouldn’t it be great to have a real home Games,” said Marg. “I’m not quite sure if we can swing it, but we can dream.”
But again, it’s not about the big event or the gold medals, for Holly, swimming is about setting and achieving goals, and continuing to prove those doctors wrong.
“When I was younger it was hard to find role models with disabilities, it’s really cool now seeing society embracing disabilities more and inclusion being part of normal life,” she said.
“At times, it’s tricky having a disability, but with good friends and the support of my family I keep focused. There have been some hard days and big challenges, but I am really focused on being the best I can be.
“I want to be a great person, not just a great athlete. I want to ensure kids with disabilities know anything is possible.”
Whatever her sporting future may be, 15-year-old Holly is clearly a winner.