From losing his Mum, aged 16 and suffering with constant daily mental battles to swimming in two Paralympic finals: the untold story of Louis Lawlor. 

As he slowly walks out to the roaring Berlin crowd, Louis Lawlor deeply exhales. Ice in the veins. This is the 2019 World Para-Swimming Championships. As he stands by the block, out of habit, Louis looks for his mother in the crowd, but this time, it’s different. Mum isn’t watching from the crowd. She’s watching from above. From the naughty child in the classroom to the 100m backstroke final at the World Championships. What felt like an uphill battle all his life was now two lengths of a swimming pool.

Louis Lawlor, born on 25th May 2002, was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (autism) at four years old. After being labelled ‘the kid who’d never shut up’, Louis explored life on his path and was classified in the S14 category. After experiencing severe difficulty learning in his early years, he describes himself as ‘growing out’ of the severity of his condition. 

Similar to many children in the UK, Louis learnt to swim at the age of 5. However, he believes he was ‘born into it’ as his Mum and dad were working for his local swimming club at the time, with his older sister competing. 

The autistic tendencies immediately kicked in for Louis. “I still remember my first time at the pool. I just wanted to jump straight in, and I hadn’t even begun learning how to swim. I just wanted to jump!” 

By age 13, Louis was named club champion at his home club, Whitehill and disability club, Temple. This led to his selection for the Scottish Swimming programme when he began training at Tollcross. 

Louis initially struggled with adapting to a competitive environment. “I hated losing. I absolutely hated it. I would get very angry when I or our team lost. I’d cry after races.” 

Just before his career took off, Louis’ Mum was diagnosed with cancer. Within a few days, he was competing in the 2019 Great Britain (GB) Para International, which essentially served as the trials for the World Championships. Despite missing the qualification time by half a second, he was selected. “I really wasn’t expecting it at all. I had GB athletes congratulating me, and I didn’t know what to think.” 

As Louis was only 16 years old at the time, he competed in the junior category. “I wasn’t complaining. I managed to pick up a few medals, so it was a good distraction at the time.” Louis was crowned ‘Best Male Junior Athlete’ at the World Para Swimming World Series 2019. 

Sadly, Louis’ Mum passed away while he was on a training camp before the senior world championships. Louis recognises that he dealt with the loss of his mother in an abnormal way. 

“To be honest, it’d knock you right down, but I think because of my autism, it didn’t click with me straight away; the realisation came after. Swimming really helped me escape from what was happening in the lead-up to the worlds. Because she’d passed, and the funeral had been, I think you’re in a different mind and frozen. It helped me keep my mind occupied, keeping me busy.” 

Louis describes lockdown as ‘the biggest challenge he’s faced’ due to the isolation he felt.

“I was going on ten-mile walks every day. We were sent home workout plans, but after a while, I lost motivation for that. I felt useless, and it was never-ending. I didn’t know what to do. It definitely got harder as it went on.” 

On 24th March 2020, just days into the first lockdown, the Olympic and Paralympic committees decided to postpone the event by a year. 

“It really knocked my confidence a lot because I was probably at my best in terms of training, and then it just crashed. It felt like a ton of bricks just landed on me, and I struggled a lot when I got back into the water. It was like I’d forgotten how to swim.

“If Covid didn’t hit, I honestly reckon that I could’ve won bronze. When we first went into lockdown, we were told it would be a three-week break, which I was happy about, but of course, it ended up being a lot longer. GB athletes were the first to get back into the water, so I was back in by June.

“We went through a phase where my coach was doing hard sessions every day, and it was horrible. And it affected me badly for 6 months. I was really unhappy in the pool to the point where I didn’t want to swim. I just wanted to leave. But at this point, it was the build-up to the trials as we were told that the games were happening. I was really unfit at this time. I’m quite glad I didn’t walk away because I wouldn’t have made it to Tokyo. It was worth it in the end.”

Louis Lawlor speaks about the importance of S14 being recognised as its own category. The ‘S’ stands for swimming, and the 14 refers to the classification of intellectual impairment. Athletes in the S14 class typically have an IQ of 75 or below, with significant limitations in adaptive behaviour. To be eligible, the disability must have been present before age 18. These athletes may experience difficulty with pattern recognition and memory, which can impact their stroke technique and race strategy.

“With S14, people should understand that there is different severity. So, there could be some that are more misunderstood than others, some that might take a bit longer to interact. So I think it all depends on the person. They might communicate in a different way because they could have different disabilities. It’s about working around them in order to move forward.

“When you compare S14 athletes to able-bodied athletes, there are differences without the lens, for example, from the start. S14’s react to the buzzer a bit later; stroke rates are slower, and turns might be about 10 times more rubbish! We might have more trouble with how to pace our races. You could see some S14 going ‘all out’ from the start and absolutely dying at the end. I’ve seen way too many of them do it.”

It’s important to recognise that there are swimmers who compete in the able-bodied category who also suffer from intellectual impairments. Most famously, the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, has been open about his ADHD diagnosis. Interestingly, Phelps was diagnosed at the age of 9, so he would have been eligible to compete in the S14 category. Clearly, his ADHD didn’t negatively impact his swimming, which is a point worth considering. 

Louis Lawlor has now reached consecutive finals in the Paralympics of Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 in 100m backstroke, with 8th and 7th place, respectively. Louis has yet to be named in the GB team for next season, but he is hoping to perform well at the trials in July. He is currently trying to balance his job as a lifeguard with his training, which has resulted in a decrease in his hours in the water. He acknowledges that if it wasn’t for S14, Louis would never have experienced international competition.