Springwood breaststroke champion Matt Wilson is Tokyo-bound.
It's been an emotional journey for the 22-year-old, who was convinced his Olympic dream was over after falling short of the qualifying times in both the 100m and 200m events during the Australian qualifiers in Adelaide last week.
Unknown to his teammates at the time, Wilson had arrived at the meet in the wake of personal tragedy.
In the week prior to the meet one of his biggest supporters, his grandmother Pam, lost her battle with cancer. Wilson was unable to say goodbye and could not attend the funeral.
He was surprised when named part of the 35-strong swimming squad that will wear the green and gold.
Wilson is part of the relay team, but may also get the nod for the 200m swim, considering his time met the FINA standard, less than that of Swimming Australia.
Tokyo will be Wilson's maiden Olympic Games.
"I am beyond ecstatic to have booked my ticket," he posted to Instagram. "Obviously, I would've liked to have qualified differently to what occurred over the week, but I'm 110 per cent committed to putting my best foot forward and repaying the faith that has been shown to me.
"Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way, especially my mum, dad, sister and the rest of my family and my beautiful girlfriend. The amount of support I've gotten has been unbelievable."
