No age barrier to excellence

27 Nov 2023

Remember this name – Eli Jack Bruggemann.

The 12-year-old accepted the inaugural Pho3nix Junior Excellence Swimmer of the Year award at the recent 2023 Swimming Australia Awards held at The Pullman Hotel in Brisbane.

Bruggemann exemplifies the traits of excellence in performance that the Pho3nix JX Swimmer of the Year award recognises, not only through his current performances but also his meteoric rise over the past 16 months.

After only three months training with the Junior Squad at the University of Queensland Swim Club, Bruggemann became the lead swimmer among 16 competitors. Nine months later, he gained acceptance into the prestigious St. Peters Lutheran College and the elite swimming club of St Peters Western Amateur Swim Club.

He now has 55 Swimming Queensland medals under his belt, of which 27 are gold. Over the 2022-2023 season he became the fastest junior boy in Australian swimming history to achieve JX Australian Swimming Level Gold status after only nine months of competitive swimming.

The four-stroke specialist competes in both short course and long course on the district, regional, state, and national level, with butterfly and breaststroke as his primary strokes and freestyle and backstroke as secondary. Already a representative swimmer at the district and regional levels, he has his eye on attaining state and national level representation.

Every member of the Australian team that competed at the recent World Championships in Fukuoka – at which the Dolphins finished as the top swimming nation – is a graduate of the JX program.

With these big flippers to fill, Eli said becoming a multiple Olympian is his next big goal, starting with the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles when he is 17, 2032 in Brisbane when he is 21 – all the way to 2044 when he will be 33.

Also at the Swimming Australia Awards, Pho3nix Athlete Program member Alexa Leary accepted the AIS Discovery of the Year in recognition of her breakthrough rookie campaign at the Manchester Para World Swimming Championships.

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Today, the Pho3nix Foundation officially launches the fourth edition of its global Pho3nix Athlete Program, a unique initiative to identify and financially support athletes striving for the Olympics and Paralympics. Now accepting applications for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, the Pho3nix Athlete Program is open to competitors in any individual Olympic or Paralympic sport who are on their journey to qualification. This program addresses the financial and personal sacrifices made by these aspiring Olympians and Paralympians, many of whom work multiple jobs to sustain their training despite being among the best in their disciplines. Rooted in the Pho3nix Foundation’s mission to boost children’s participation in sports, the Athlete Program provides athletes with the financial support needed for training, equipment, competition, and travel. By shouldering these costs, Pho3nix allows these athletes to concentrate on performing at their peak on the world’s biggest stage. Additionally, the Foundation spotlights their journeys to inspire youth worldwide, underscoring its motto, “Together We Rise.” Since 2020, Pho3nix has supported over 60 athletes from 25 nations across 30 sports at three Olympic and Paralympic Games cycles, with over 60% of its athletes achieving their Games dreams. Program alumni have won a total of three Gold medals, […]

No age barrier to excellence

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