Australia's Next Thorpedo

He's only 12 but Wollongong schoolboy Te Haumi Maxwell is making a splash - breaking records set by legend Ian Thorpe.

They aren't the times which took Thorpe to world championships and Olympic gold but the district age records and state age times are enough to signal this young swimmer's potential.
So impressive was Maxwell at the recent Western Districts short course (25m pool) championships, NSW Institute of Sport head coach Jim Fowlie has taken a personal interest in his future.

Maxwell, a Year 7 student at Edmund Rice College, bettered the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke and 100m individual medley times set by Thorpe back in 1995. His 25.52sec swim in the 50m freestyle was almost 3sec faster than Thorpe's district record and was more than 0.5sec faster than the state age record, also held by Thorpe at the time.

Thorpe is my idol but I want to swim like Michael Phelps,'' Maxwell said.
"I haven't done much yet with my swimming but I want to go to the Olympics. I want to represent Australia.''

So keep an eye out on this boy he will be representing Australia very shortly, that I am certain.