WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Two-time Paralympian and Purdue women's swimming assistant coach Evan Austin was featured in Team USA's media summit to preview the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer in Tokyo.
Austin is a two-time Paralympian swimmer for Team USA and a 2019 World Para Championships gold medalist in the 50-meter butterfly. He also competes in the freestyle and breaststroke events. He has spastic paraplegia.
Austin has been a presence at Purdue's home meets since the fall of 2019, the same semester he began training full-time at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center. He also serves as a volunteer assistant coach with Purdue women's swimming, traveling to the Big Ten Championships with the team each of the last two years.
Austin says he did a lot of open-water training at a friend's lake house in Indiana during the shutdown throughout the summer of 2020. "I'm 6-2 so training in a bathtub wasn't really an option," Austin jokes.
"I've been welcomed here (at Purdue) like a member of the family," Austin says. "As much critiques and technique work that I give and relay to my swimmers, I'm with them in the trenches when I hop in the pool, so they give it right back to me. That's something that has helped me grow not only as a swimmer but as a person too, to receive criticism and understand that it's coming from a place of love and understanding. They want the best for me just like I want the best for them."
Media summit video courtesy of the the USOPC.
Austin is a two-time Paralympian swimmer for Team USA and a 2019 World Para Championships gold medalist in the 50-meter butterfly. He also competes in the freestyle and breaststroke events. He has spastic paraplegia.
Austin has been a presence at Purdue's home meets since the fall of 2019, the same semester he began training full-time at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center. He also serves as a volunteer assistant coach with Purdue women's swimming, traveling to the Big Ten Championships with the team each of the last two years.
Austin says he did a lot of open-water training at a friend's lake house in Indiana during the shutdown throughout the summer of 2020. "I'm 6-2 so training in a bathtub wasn't really an option," Austin jokes.
"I've been welcomed here (at Purdue) like a member of the family," Austin says. "As much critiques and technique work that I give and relay to my swimmers, I'm with them in the trenches when I hop in the pool, so they give it right back to me. That's something that has helped me grow not only as a swimmer but as a person too, to receive criticism and understand that it's coming from a place of love and understanding. They want the best for me just like I want the best for them."
Media summit video courtesy of the the USOPC.