Blayney’s champion swimmer Craig Morgan had extra reasons to celebrate during the festive season.

The Deaf swimmer received national and international recognition for his achievements in the pool during 2008.

In early December last year his TAFE class was interrupted when he received a text message from the Deaf Sports Australia swimming coordinator telling him he’d be named the Male Athlete of the Year.

“I was so surprised,” Morgan smiled.

“It’s amazing. It wasn’t just out of the swimmers - it was from all sports. It’s one of the biggest achievements in my swimming career.”

Included in Morgan’s list of achievements for the award were the six gold, one silver and one bronze medals he won at the 2008 Australian Deaf Games.

His open men’s 4x50m freestyle and 4x50m medley relay teams swam Games records at the event and he was named the male swimmer of the meet.

In August 2007, he set a Deaf world record for the men’s 50m (27.40 seconds) at the NSW Short Course Championships.

Amazingly, his two Deaf world record swims at the 2008 Australian Short Course Championships were not taken into account when selecting Morgan for the national award.

Shortly after Christmas Morgan received another text message telling him to look at the award winners on the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf website.

Morgan did not claim the 2008 Sportsman of the Year prize but was named as one of the nine top finishers in the international award.

“I was very impressed,” Morgan said.

“It’s nice to know my training has paid off.”

The 20-year-old plans to top his achievements in 2008 this year.

He’ll start in March when he’ll contest the Australian Long Course Championships in Sydney.

His results there will determine which events he will contest at the Deaflympic Games in Taipei in August.

This is not the first time Morgan has represented Australia in the Deaflympics.

He was in the Australian team when the Games were held in Melbourne in 2005.

Morgan said he wants to compete in the backstroke and butterfly events at Taipei.

He also hopes to compete at the Arafura Games in Darwin as a way to experience the sort of humidity they will have to compete in at Taipei.

He will have at least seven training sessions a week to make sure he is prepared for the national and international meets.

Morgan admits not having a 50m pool to swim in during the winter makes his preparations more difficult but he’ll do his best.

Morgan is looking for sponsorship and anyone wishing to help the Australian representative can contact Michelle Cook at michelle.cook@ruralpress.com.