What began as a place to splash around, learn to swim and keep cool in the hot Indian summers led to his love for swimming. This would later develop his grit and determination to becoming a multi-medal winning, multi-record breaking swimmer, an Olympian who competed in three Olympic Games and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

At first the family moved to several other countries for work and eventually fleeing the life behind the Iron Curtain, before arriving in Melbourne when Klim was 11. In his memoir he shares anecdotes from his early years as he discovers a new way of life, always finding solace in his happy place, the swimming pool. Joining a swimming club, his talent was recognised and encouraged. In his mid-teens the close knit Klim family had to make a difficult decision as they let their son move to the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) in Canberra.

In this energising and most enjoyable read, Klim writes from the heart, sharing his progression as a young talented teen swimmer living away from home and developing life long friends at the AIS with coaches, mentors and other elite swimmers. It is interesting reading his account of the records broken, race times for himself and fellow swimmers such as Thorpy (Ian Thorpe), Hacky (Grant Hackett), Piney (Adam Pyne), Hawky (Brett Hawke), Chris Fidler, as he refers to them throughout the chapters. throughout his swimming career. There are a plethora of race times included and I wondered how they could all be remembered. Reading the acknowledgements chapter, I found out.

For readers not involved or associated with anyone in the elite competitive swimming world this is quite eyeopening to read about daily life, training in the pool and on land (some seem quite brutal) while completing school and achieving Klim's IB (International Baccalaureate). He also talks about their celebrations and commiserations and how they support one another, lessons learned from coaches and mentors that are remembered when it's needed most, during competition in intense high pressure competitions against international swimmers.

He goes beyond his luminary swimming career, marriage and the birth of his three children. Klim became an entrepreneur building a substantial international business, taking on investors which would eventually see him unceremoniously removed from the company he started - much like Steve Jobs with the first incarnation of Apple.

As the pandemic hit, which also affected his family learn to swim business in Melbourne, which was run by his parents and sister, he was diagnosed with a debilitating auto-immune disease, Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIPD). He talks about the affect this has taken on his body and mental health. Once again he had difficult choices to make during this time when most of us were in lockdown, about his health or living in Bali with his children and partner Michelle Owen.

What Klim has gone on to do is remarkable using his grit and determination. His gratitude to all involved, especially his partner Michelle and his children is pleasing to read, a man with a good heart.

In summary, this is most enjoyable reading, inspirational and energising.

About Michael Klim

Michael Klim is a renowned Australian swimmer, Olympic gold medallist and successful entrepreneur. His illustrious career in the pool spanned seventeen years. He competed in three Olympic Games and won six medals, including two gold. At the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, he was instrumental in Australia's thrilling 4 x 100m men's relay victory, unleashing a world record lead of swim. He has won 11 Commonwealth Games medals and 26 World Championship medals, and has held 20 aquatic world records. In 1997, he was named Australian Swimmer of the Year and Swimming World Male Swimmer of the Year and in 2022, Michael was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Since 2020, Michael has lived with a rare autoimmune disorder, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). He has established the Klim Foundation to provide support to sufferers and champion the search for new treatments. Michael lives in Bali with his partner Michelle Owens and three children, Stella, Rocco and Frankie.