Cleggs face a step
It’s different strokes for para-swimmer Stephen as he is forced to switch event in his bid for glory
HAVING crossed off the Paralympic Games, World Para-Swimming Championships and European Championships already, Scottish paraswimmer Stephen Clegg still has one international stage to conquer. With Birmingham boasting the biggest para-sport programme in Commonwealth Games history, the visually impaired swimmer is thrilled at the opportunity of going one better than the silver he earned at last year’s Paralympics in Tokyo.
But the 26-year-old, younger brother of 2014 Commonwealth gold medallist sprinter-turned-cyclist Libby, accepts he will have to do it the hard way if he is to build on his big-stage successes already this year.
Less than two months after clinching two World titles in Madeira, Clegg is on top form going into Birmingham. However, with only certain para-swimming events selected for the Games, the University of Edinburgh swimmer has been forced to change his focus and take a step into the unknown.
‘Madeira was a surprise to be honest,’ he declares. ‘There was stuff I expected. The 100metres butterfly, for example, I went into that with the target of winning the gold, but the 100m backstroke was a big surprise, especially because I had Covid two weeks before and I wasn’t too sure if I was going to be able to go over there to compete at one point.
‘But, in terms of going into the Commonwealth Games, it’s completely different. The 50m freestyle is the event I have to swim at the Commonwealth Games, which is not my preferred event. It’s quite a competitive event, so it’s kind of unknown, which is actually quite nice because I’m used to swimming against the same people over and over again and having a target of where I want to be, whereas I’ve gone into this with little expectation of what I want to get out of it.
‘It’s been a fun challenge, really, because the training I’ve been doing, especially the last two months, has been completely different to what I’m used to. Being a part of the Team Scotland environment is going to be pretty unique and special.
‘Scottish Swimming have been great with the inclusion of para-swimming with able-bodied swimming, and it’s made being part of this team really easy because we’re all familiar with each other and everyone’s so welcoming.
‘I’m looking forward to being part of this team going into the Commonwealth Games.’
From falling out of love with swimming and giving it up completely aged just 14 to qualifying for his first
Paralympics only two years after returning to the sport, the Scot has not had the most conventional career. Admitting that he felt lost after leaving school, not knowing who he was or what he wanted to do, he initially came back to the sport as a way to keep fit and add structure to his life.
With the support of his closest friends, coaches and family, Clegg has moved from strength to strength since his comeback in 2014. But, diving deeper, he is not ashamed to confess that what he would call the defining moment of his career so far is not so shiny as what it appears on the surface.
‘The defining moment of my career to date is probably my 100metres butterfly in Tokyo,’ he said. ‘Not because it was the biggest medal that I had won at the time, but it’s also the biggest disappointment of my career as well.
‘I went in there expecting to win. I’d broken the world record earlier in the year and the target all the way through my journey was to win that gold.
‘Not winning, it was soul destroying, to say the least, but it has made me really evaluate how I want to approach something and assess my priorities in swimming and in my personal life.’
Following on from Tokyo, Clegg has decided that he wants to leave his own legacy and help inspire more visually impaired and para-athletes to achieve their dreams. He explains: ‘In the last five months I’ve thought a lot about the lessons I’ve learned after Tokyo, what I want to get out of my career and the legacy I want to try and leave behind.
‘For me, a big part of the reason I got into sport was I felt there was an expectation of me to not be able to do things in my life — people always telling me that I need assistance with this, that and the other — and that was something that I found, not to be crude, but quite crippling, in terms of my confidence more than anything else.
‘It left me quite anxious in the real world because I had this expectation put upon me that I didn’t feel that I fitted, or the stigma that I didn’t feel like I fitted and it’s something that’s quite common, especially with people with visual impairments.
‘I think a lot of people coddle people with visual impairments or disabilities, in general, trying to protect them from the harshness of everyday life, and I think it leaves people feeling a little bit insecure.
‘That’s the message I want to get across, that you are very capable of doing a lot with your life, whether it’s a sport like for me, but it could be anything. I genuinely believe I’m not the most talented person in the world and I think what I’ve done with my career pretty much anyone can do, as long as they’re willing to apply the discipline and commitment to the
sport.’