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After sensational success as a junior, Andrew has now tasted success at the highest level, at the Olympic Games, winning one Silver and two Bronze medals. He was the youngest male medalist in swimming at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Andrew is an integral part of the Australian swimming team. He is the Australian and Commonwealth record holder in the 100m Butterfly, and is an important member in both the 4x100 Freestyle relay and the 4x100 Medley relay teams.
He first came to prominence as a prolific national title winner at Age Group level in backstroke, butterfly and freestyle. He was National Age Champion in backstroke and butterfly for five consecutive years, narrowly missing a berth on the 2004 Olympic team as a 16 year old.
Major Competitions:
2008 - Beijing Olympics
At his first Olympics, Andrew became a Triple Olympic
Medalist, winning Silver in the 4x100 Medley relay, Bronze in
the 100m Butterfly and Bronze in the 4x100m Freestyle relay.
All three events were Australian and Commonwealth records.
Andrew was on the dais with American Champion Michael
Phelps on three occasions.
2007 - World Championships
Andrew had a fantastic year in 2007, representing Australia at
the World Championships in Melbourne. He became a World
Champion swimming the butterfly leg in the 4 x 100 medley
relay. He also swam in the final of the 4 x 100 freestyle relay
finishing 5th and was a semi finalist in the 100m butterfly.
2006 - Commonwealth and Pan Pacific Games
He swam in front of huge crowds at the Commonwealth
Games in Melbourne and the Pan Pacific Games in Canada.
At the Commonwealth Games he was a finalist in the 50 and
100m Backstroke finishing 6th in both events and won Gold
swimming backstroke in the 4 x 100m medley relay.
Later that year at the Pan Pacific Games, Andrew swam the butterfly leg in the final of the 4 x 100 medley relay winning Bronze, swimming butterfly faster than the Australian butterfly leg at the 2004 Olympics. This relay swim was a major influence in his change in focus back to butterfly and freestyle rather than backstroke.
2005 World Championships
His first senior international competition was in the 2005
World Championships in Montreal where he finished in the
top 20 in all three of his individual events – 50, 100m
backstroke and 100m butterfly. His 100m backstroke time
was the third fastest time ever swum by an Australian.
After completing his VCE at Brighton Grammar end of 2005, Andrew moved from his home town Melbourne to the Gold Coast to join his coach Glenn Baker. Last month Andrew relocated to Sydney to be part of an elite squad setup and backed by the NSWIS to make an impact on the world scene.
Honours and Achievements:
Andrew has a huge future ahead of him and is looking forward to the World Championships in Rome, Italy in July 2009 and the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India in October 2010.