Para-Swimmer Hamish McLean a late selection to represent New Zealand at Rio 2016

Hamish McLean has been selected to represent New Zealand in Para-Swimming at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games in September.

Sixteen year old McLean is a late selection to the Para-Swimming team announced last week, which includes Paralympic gold medallists Sophie Pascoe, Mary Fisher and Cameron Leslie, plus London 2012 Paralympians Nikita Howarth and Rebecca Dubber and two Paralympic debutants, Bryall McPherson and Jesse Reynolds.

At the time of the Para-Swimming team announcement, New Zealand had qualified five female and two male slots for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, into which seven Para-Swimmers were selected following an in-depth nomination and selection process. Paralympics New Zealand has since been reallocated an additional male slot to enable McLean to be selected.

Fiona Allan, CEO, Paralympics New Zealand, said: “I am thrilled to confirm Hamish McLean’s selection to the Para-Swimming team to represent New Zealand at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Hamish has consistently demonstrated outstanding results, including meeting the Swimming New Zealand nomination and the Paralympics New Zealand selection criteria after setting a minimum qualifying time for Rio 2016, but we simply did not have a slot available for him until now.”

McLean said: “I am incredibly excited about my selection to compete at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. I am overwhelmed by the support I have had from Paralympics New Zealand and all the people around me that have helped to make my dream of representing New Zealand a reality.”

Jon Shaw, Para-Swimming Head Coach, said: “I’m totally overwhelmed and to have secured a Rio 2016 slot for Hamish is beyond anything I could have imagined. He absolutely deserves it and to have him miss out on selection by just a hair last week was devastating, both for him and for the team working behind the scenes at Paralympics New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand.”

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will run from 7-18 September 2016. The Games are the world’s largest multi-sport event for disabled athletes; over 4,350 athletes from 178 countries are expected to compete in 22 sports, with 526 medal events taking place.

The full New Zealand Para-Swimming squad is: