AUSTIN, Texas — Swimming with Team USA across his chest wasn't the original goal for Holden Ewan. Born with a hearing disablity, Ewan took his first strokes in a pool when he was 6 months old. At the time, it was just for recreation purposes, with no aspirations to race competitively
"I challenged myself to shave off some time and just kept going at it and realized I was really good at it," Ewan said.
After reaching that realization, he started to compete at the age of five. And he won – a lot.
That inspired him to start racing against hearing leagues despite his disadvantage. Eventually, he reached a state-wide championship meet that sparked the attention of his future coach.
"When he went to the championship meet when he was six ... I knew he would become one of our good swimmers." Coach Otis Kellam said.
Now, at 13 years old, Ewan has qualified for the Deaflympics for Team USA.
"It’s only a small number of people, so it’s very competitive to get in," Ewan said. "I feel pretty good ... I proved them wrong that I could get in to this competition."
This isn't the final stop for Ewan though – he plans on attending the Japan Deaflympics in 2025 as well.
He wants to accomplish these things not for himself but to be an inspiration to others.
"I want those that are young of age just like me to be inspired, to know that they can do it just as well," Ewan said.
The 2023 Buenos Aires Deaflympics are set for Aug. 14-19.