Budding Swim Star

Te Haumi Maxwell, 13, has been hailed as the “best male swimming prospect since Ian Thorpe” in the Australian press. Maxwell was born in NZ but raised in Australia, and is due to become an Australian citizen later this month. Maxwell won five gold medals and a bronze at the New South Wales state age championships in Sydney last week, with times that make him the fastest swimmer in the world for his age. “Thorpe is my idol but I want to swim like (US superstar) Michael Phelps,” he said in the Melbourne Age.