Callum Lawson
Elite swimmer Callum Lawson took the plunge to combine a successful international sporting career with his work towards a BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise.
Callum is a single-arm amputee swimmer whose commitment has won praise from his lecturers. He began his NTU studies in 2004, just a month after competing at the Athens Paralympic Games. In the final year of his studies, he was part of Great Britain's triumphant paralympic swimming team at the World Championships in South Africa.
He won a silver medal in the men’s 4x100 medley relay team, which also achieved a European record, and in the process recorded the fastest ever British split time for a breaststroke leg. He also broke the British record in the individual SB9 100m breaststroke.
Despite being away from the taught element of his course for seven weeks, Callum managed to catch up with his academic workload, although he admits it hasn’t always been easy:
For his dissertation, Callum investigated the technical components of the breaststroke turn in light of a recent rule change brought in by swimming’s international governing body. Working alongside one of the able-bodied World Championship coaches, Callum came up with findings which will help other swimmers to develop their techniques in future – and which he hopes will give him the edge over his rivals!
He is also participating in a pioneering long-term research project involving NTU and other universities to investigate the biomechanical characteristics of elite single-arm amputee swimmers.
