USA Para swimmer Jamal Hill on being diagnosed with CMT, role models in sport, and inspiring others to swim

Jamal Hill was 10 months old when he fell in love with swimming.

His mother took him to 'mommy and me' classes, and from there it was the only sport he wanted to do.

"When I'm in the water I feel limitless," Hill told Olympics.com.

"Living with neuropathy just working and living on land is a challenge, and that challenge doesn't just disappear in the water - but my body has more support.

"There's this force that is helping to keep me buoyant as opposed to this opposing force that's trying to pull me down to earth."

But there was a period in his life when swimming was taken away from him, being diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth that left him with temporary paralysis.

Getting back into the water and embracing who he is today has meant overcoming multiple hurdles.

Overcoming shame around his diagnosis

When Jamal Hill was 10 years old, he felt his arm go limp.

Not thinking too much of it, young Jamal continued Thanksgiving celebrations with his family.

Hill realised something was wrong when he began struggling to lift both arms.

After being unable to stand, Hill was rushed to hospital, and was subsequently diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome, where the brain doesn't communicate well with peripheral limbs.

"I didn't want to be seen as different," he told Olympics.com as a 23-year-old preparing to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics in 2021.

"Even just five years ago it was a different world - most people have a belief and stigma of disability in their minds.

"I'm one of those people who are dealing with an invisible disability where I don't have any limb amputations or anything like that, so there was a point of me that just thought people wouldn't believe me."

Hill felt a sense of shame in his disability, not wanting anyone to think there was anything wrong with him or not wanting to believe there was himself.

But it was a shift in mindset, with the help of his parents, that helped Hill come to terms with his diagnosis and embrace who he is.

"It wasn't really an option for me not to have a positive mindset or to be in a depressive state," said Hill.

"My parents were of the volition that, disability or not, when you set your mind to something you want to be something or do something, there is no good reason other than the reason that you tell yourself why you can't go and achieve that.

"And so just constantly having a belief system like that drilled that into me and, ultimately, I think what carried me through and brought me to this point in my life."

Role models in sport

There are three athletes who inspire Jamal Hill: Muhammed Ali, Michael Phelps, and Serena Williams.

And while admiring what each athlete has done in and for their respective sports, Hill believes it's "not just about what we're doing for ourselves, but what we can induce others to do for us in service of that dream."

"How many people did Muhammed Ali help inspire and believe in him that he then added to his ability to be a champion over and over? Same thing with Michael Phelps" he told Olympics.com.

"How many little girls across America started picking up tennis rackets and wanted to be involved in tennis? And how much energy did that really give Serena to continue to do the things she wanted to do?

What quality would he take from each?

"I would say, just that mastermind principle and ability to create a community around the vision," Hill shared.

Inspiring others to swim with Swim Up Hill

Just like his sporting role models, Hill is already cementing his legacy with his non-profit organisation: Swim Up Hill.

The aim is simple: Teach one million people how to swim.

He wants to update swimming education, revealing that between 250,000 and 1 million people drown every year - mostly from low and middle income communities.

With Swim Up Hill, he is aiming to remove barriers that would otherwise prevent some from learning how to swim.

"We have a method that can make it [learning how to swim] easy and affordable," said Hill.

"I think when you have a system and you have a plan, what may sounds like a big number to others, is really just taking one bite at a time - so we're going to hit that number by LA 2028."

No matter what he does in the pool, Hill is already changing lives outside of it.

Tokyo-bound Hill set for Paralympic debut

Hill has had his mind set on making Tokyo 2020 since deciding to drop out of college to focus on achieving his dream.

"I called my parents and said 'hey, look, I can't stay here [college] for another year if I want to have a chance at making a 2020 swim team - I got to leave, I got to try and find the best coach I can find and I got to chase this dream," Hill revealed to Olympics.com.

And in the five years since making that decision, Hill introduced himself to the world after being completely unknown at the start of his Paralympic preparation.

The risk of dropping out of college to focus on his dream paid off, booking his ticket to Tokyo for his Paralympic debut in 2021

"To be here five years later and have made my first US Paralympic team, especially since some of the struggles that we have to go through this year, not only with Covid but being eligible to make the team, climbing the ranks, going in between classification status is just so many things that could derail you or make you lose faith."

And although he has one eye on the future with Paris 2024 and LA 2028, Hill is firmly focused on the task at hand in Tokyo - where he has every intention of returning home with multiple medals.