Background
Austin was born on 7 November 1980 in the New South Wales town of Wellington.
Austin was born on 7 November 1980 in the New South Wales town of Wellington.
His classification is S8 (above elbow amputee). When he was a few weeks old, doctors amputated his left arm above the elbow due to birth-related complications. Outside of swimming, he plays rugby league, rugby union, water polo and basketball.
He is a university student, working on a degree that will allow him to become an English as a Second Language teacher.
He is also studying kinesiology. He currently resides in Sydney, Australia.
He is 187 centimetres (6 ft 2 in) tall and weighs 83 kilograms (183 lb). He has four sisters.
Austin started swimming at five years of age, and began swimming competitively in 1996.
He represented Australia for the first time in 1999.
While he is primarily known for being a Paralympic swimmer, he also competed in abled bodied swimming. He swims for Warringah Aquatic and is coached by Ben Davies. In 2008, he was coached by Graeme Carroll.
He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.
He has competed at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, the 2004 Summer Paralympics and the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He set two world records at the 2004 Paralympic Games in the 100 m freestyle and 100 m butterfly events.
He finished in fifth place in the 100 m butterfly event, and fourth in the 100 m freestyle event. He competed at the IPC World Championships in 2002 and 2006.
At the 2008 Australian Championships, he set a personal best time in the 100 m Freestyle event with a time of 0:59.08.