Geelong hearing-impaired brothers James, 16, and Dylan Logan, 20, will head to Argentina to compete in the sixth Death World Swimming Championships. Jena Carr spoke with the two brothers and dad Marc about their swimming journeys.
When Dylan Logan was four years old, dad Marc and mum Nicole realised something was wrong with their son’s hearing.
“He was about four and a half when we picked it up,” Marc said.
“Nicole was pregnant with James at the time, and we went to parent-teacher interviews at Dylan’s school where the teachers told us that he doesn’t listen.
“We thought maybe we should have him tested, which revealed he was hearing-impaired.
“When James was about 18 months, we decided to test him and then we picked up that he had the same issue.”
Marc said no one in their family had the same issue as his sons and that it resulted from the parent’s mix of genetics.
“It’s been tough because you just take hearing for granted,” he said.
“When we first had Dylan put his hearing aids on, we drove home from the hearing aid place, and just the tyre noise, he was sitting in the back and asked, ‘what’s that noise’.
“He had never heard the tyre noise or when the kettle was going before. Then it also impacts their speech, so we’ve had a lot of speech therapy and that kind of stuff.”
Marc said he would accompany his sons to Argentina to represent Deaf Swimming Australia in the sixth Death World Swimming Championships from August 13 to 19.
“It’s a new country we haven’t been to, so it’s going to be a great experience,” he said.
“It was earlier this year, about March, when the Australian team said they were looking at the boys.
“They got the qualifying times they needed to meet to participate and were selected.
“This competition is also a great stepping-stone for James to get under his belt as we prepare to get him to Tokyo Deaf Olympics in 2025.
“It will be good for the two of them to learn from each other and enjoy it. I just don’t want them to get too nervous about and do what they can.”
It will be Dylan’s second time swimming for Australia after competing in the fifth Deaf World Swimming Championships in Brazil at age 16 and James’ first time competing internationally.
Dylan said he was “pretty excited” to compete in the upcoming championships and “definitely enjoys” swimming, which he has been doing since he was eight.
“It’s a healthy lifestyle and being in the water feels really good,” he said.
“I’ve had amazing coaches, and you make a lot of friends in the sport as well. It also helps get good routines and is a fun sport.
“I’m turning 21 later this year, and I’ve been doing it for a while. I think it might almost be the end of the chapter, but who knows, I might make a comeback one day, so you better look out for me.
“I did enjoy going out to Brazil, but I was still young, so I didn’t really have as much hope, but this time around, I feel a lot more competitive, and I’m looking forward to it.
“Hopefully I can get some good rankings and good results and make Australia proud.”
James said he looked forward to his first-time representing Australia in international waters and that it was “going to be fun”.
“We’ll be staying in a different country, and it will be my first-time swimming in a different country,” he said.
“My favourite part about swimming is being able to make friends and meet new people.”
Dylan has broken 24 Australian swimming records competing as a hearing-impaired swimmer and owns four gold, 11 silver, and six bronze Australian National Championships medals.
James also has many national medals, which include 15 gold, 12 silver, and nine bronze from three years of participation in the Long and Short Course State Championships.
“I’m very proud of what they’ve done and what they’ve achieved,” Marc said.
“It’s a lot of hard work and commitment from their side, so they’ve done really well over the years.
“It’s just so much time they got to put into it and a lot of sacrifices of the weekends, parties and things like that.
“They have a good group of friends that they’ve been swimming with for years, so that that connection and team effort is awesome for them.”
Marc said the boys loved the social interaction provided through the Geelong Swimming Club and had “two major personality differences”.
“For James, swimming has and definitely brought him out of his shell,” he said.
“Before his cochlear (hearing aid implant), he was very introverted, but he’s now come out, and as he matures and socially interacts more with his mates, he’s been more social.
“When he’s got his mates at the swimming club, he comes out of his shell, which helps him with that social interaction aspect.
“Whereas Dylan has been a social butterfly since he was young and had many mates.
“The club and its coaches have been very supportive of them… because they can’t hear instructions, the coaches all know to instruct them by writing instructions on a whiteboard.”
Marc said he and his family were proud to be citizens and part of the Geelong community after coming to Australia from South Africa seven years ago.
“The support we’ve had locally in Australia has been amazing,” he said.
“There’s definitely a community of deaf swimmers here that hopefully can take this sport further and raise the profile a bit more for Australia.”
