many athletes have struggled through the challenges of covert 19. but at canberra's australian institute of sport ahmed kelly is swimming against the tide his third paralympic appearance has been delayed until at least next year the uncertainty is a challenge he's taking head on we've just really tried to make the most of these tough times to be honest with you and yeah try and make do with what we can ahmed's grit doesn't come from a childhood of sporting scholarships and elite schools it comes from time spent in orphanages and operating theatres having such um such a different upbringing growing up with kids who like have a lot of different conditions has put a lot of things into perspective for me he and his brother emmanuel were abandoned as babies in iraq they had underdeveloped limbs and spent seven years at an orphanage we were just being kids really making the most of every day we had no idea what was going on in australia we didn't even know what australia was a victorian woman named moira kelly met the pair during a visit and bought them to australia to avoid iraqi authorities the brothers were secretly taken to an airport in jordan they were so patient they were really persistent and they really wanted to help us out to try and pretty much change our life so that it was for the better ahmed needed surgery and was given prosthesis which led him to a new passion afl football his courage on the field earned him the nickname nails when he swapped the share in for speedos he became liquid nails he's willing to work on his skills and his efficiency every time every training session it's a toughness he'll take to tokyo it'll be my third games if i am successful so i really really want to get there and really try and get top three but he's not just racing for himself we live in a world that's not really perfect and i've come across so many different kids who haven't been exposed to someone who's missing arms or legs i know it's not every day you get to see something like that but i think it is important that kids are educated about athletes with a disability or people with a disability a message that's worth its weight in gold selby stewart abc news canberra you