Brendon Smith’s very unusual training program in the lead up the Tokyo Olympics

Melbourne swimmer, Brendon Smith, yesterday won Australia’s first medal at Tokyo, taking home the bronze in the men’s 400m individual medley.

But the 21-year-old from Nunawading didn’t have an easy time getting to that point.

During lockdown last year, he was forced to train in a backyard pool, tied to a rope.

“The coach basically said ‘We’ve just got to get him in the water’,” his father Peter Smith told Neil Mitchell.

“The closest thing we could do was our backyard pool.

“We basically tied a rubber rope to the cubby house and he just jumped in the pool.

“We tried to make it a little bit warmer … filling it up with hot water basically from the kitchen ,which didn’t really make much difference but it was better than nothing!”

Mr Smith says his son wasn’t always a natural swimmer, either.

“At a young age he was never a good swimmer,” he said.

“He was just a club swimmer, and not a great club swimmer, to be honest. He couldn’t get into the second relay team at Nunawading Swimming Club.

“Then he sort of got to around 15 years of age, and it just all clicked.”

Press PLAY below to hear more about Brendon Smith’s road to Tokyo

Image: Giorgio Scala/BSR Agency/Getty Images