Switzerland's Leo McCrea fulfills his dream of a Paralympic gold medal in Paris. The 20-year-old wins the 100 m breaststroke race in superior style and rewards himself for months of hardship.
01.09.2024, 23:02
02.09.2024, 06:47
SDA
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- Switzerland's Leo McCrea swims to gold in the 100 meter breaststroke at the Paralympics in Paris.
- The son of a woman from Vaud and an Englishman has deliberately isolated himself in recent months. External influences should not deter him from his path to swimming to gold in Paris.
- The moment when he saw his parents, sister, uncles, cousins and friends in the stands after the competition was all the more emotional for McCrea.
Leo McCrea walks along the long corridor leading away from the pool where he has just achieved the greatest success of his swimming career on this Sunday evening. McCrea walks past numerous cameras and microphones, as a group of the Swiss delegation is waiting at the very back. He hugs his coach Amin Jaza, deputy chef de mission Olivia Stoffel and Nora Meister, who has also come to the swimming hall on her day off to cheer on her teammate. World Championship silver in 2023, European Championship bronze in 2024: in Paris, McCrea completes his personal set of medals in his favorite discipline, the 100 m breaststroke. And wins the most important medal at the most prestigious competition of all.
Carefree and dedicated
After his first appearance in the Paralympic pool in the 200 m medley, McCrea was already looking ahead to Sunday in the modern La Défense Arena and, when asked whether he was aiming for gold in his favorite discipline, replied, "Yeah, why not?" Yes, why not?
These are three words that say a lot about the English-born athlete, who has been competing for Switzerland for five years. Words that testify to a certain carefreeness that you still have at the age of 20. But they are also words with a huge amount of will and dedication behind them. "Dedication", as he calls it.
When McCrea finished fifth at the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics, the desire to do better in his next appearance among the Paralympic Agitos began to grow in him. "I've worked for many years to get here now," he says, recounting the many hours of training in the swimming hall in Poole, not far from Bournemouth, where he grew up, the sessions with his coach Amin Jaza, the hard sessions in the weight room and the mental work that helps him cope with the strain of being a top swimmer.
The mother's news
The Crystal Palace football club fan has been swimming since he was six years old. And after experiencing his first Paralympics in Tokyo, he knew how much he had to invest to get closer to his dream of Paralympic gold.
He says he hasn't seen his family for some time. He has only sometimes exchanged text messages with his mother. The son of a Vaudois woman and an Englishman has deliberately isolated himself in recent months. He did not want external influences to deter him from his path to swimming to gold in Paris.
The moment when he saw his parents, sister, uncles, cousins and friends in the stands was all the more emotional for McCrea. They had all come to see their Leo reap the rewards of his hard work. The 1:27.15 minutes for the 100 m is a personal best. He distanced his opponents by at least two seconds.
"I looked left and right, but no one was there. I just saw my family and that was wonderful," he says, who has invested at least 20 hours a week in training. "This medal shows that you can do anything with hard work," he says. But the next few weeks should be a little quieter. McCrea is allowing himself a "break" before setting his sights on his next goal. "First of all, I'm enjoying the moment. It feels like a dream."
