Ethan Calleja is a recipient of a Tier 2 Scholarship within the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship and Mentoring Program, and is the first male artistic swimmer to be included in the program.
Ethan was born in Subiaco, WA, in 1999 and was the first male to represent Australia in the sport of artistic swimming when he competed at the FINA World Series China Open, and the FINA World Championships in the Mixed Duet Free routine in 2019.
Prior to artistic swimming, Ethan enjoyed a very successful swimming career. He represented WA at five School Sport Australia Swimming Championships and was appointed team captain in 2016 and 2017. He made finals at two national championships and broke 25 records during his 13-year swimming career. Many of those records remain.
Ethan and his partner, Rio Olympian Danielle Kettlewell, qualified for the final of the Mixed Duet at the 2019 FINA World Championships and became the first Australians to do so since 2007, and only the second Aussies in the history of the sport to reach that level.
Ethan aims to qualify for more world championship finals and to compete in artistic swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Men are currently excluded from artistic swimming at Olympic level, but Ethan is working tirelessly to change that. He is also completing a Bachelor of Commerce in Management at Curtin University, and he aims to complete a postgraduate degree in Sports Management. He would like to use those qualifications to work with organisations such as the International Olympic Committee to create meaningful change for athletes. like
“Being successful for the SAHOF Scholarship is not only humbling, but a true honour to be a part of a prestigious program and family with a rich history. I am truly inspired by all the athletes across so many sports that have been involved in creating a part of Australian history and I am so thankful for SAHOF for selecting me to hopefully impact this history. Due to being a male in a smaller female dominated sport it is quite difficult to gather support when paving the way, thus having the opportunity to be involved with SAHOF is truly awe-inspiring.” – Ethan Calleja on being selected as a 2021 Tier 2 Scholarship Holder.
Awards, Honours & Achievements
- 2019: First Male to represent Australia in Artistic Swimming
- 2019: FINA World Championships – Mixed Duet, Free Finalist – 11th
- First Australian to qualify for final since 2007, and second in history
- 2019: FINA World Series, China Open – 5th
- 2019: Australian Artistic Swimming National Championships – National Champion, Mixed Duet, Free
- 2019: Western Australian Artistic Swimming State Championships – 1st
- 2019/2020: Selected to train and study at Stanford University for exchange (Covid-cancelled)
- 2021: Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship Holder – Tier 2
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Bio picture credit: Water Pixies
