The team is headed by eight time gold medallist Matthew Cowdrey (pictured above), who will compete at his third Paralympic Games.

If he wins three gold medals in London, Cowdrey will overtake track star Tim Sullivan's existing record as Australia's most successful Paralympian to date.

He is joined by Rick Pendleton, Katrina Porter (pictured below) and Matthew Levy, all Paralympic gold medallists.

Six other current world champions, including Blake Cochrane and Brenden Hall, will also travel to London.

At the age of 13, Maddison Elliot will head to the Paralympics as the youngest member of the entire Australian squad.

"Australians love watching Australians do well in the pool and London will be no different," said Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) chief executive and 2012 Chef de Mission Jason Hellwig.

"We are sending a strong swim team and although the competition for medals will be tougher than ever, I have no doubt that members of this team can make their presence felt."


Head coach Brendan Keogh added: "This is a swim team that Australia can be proud of and will continue the success Australia has traditionally had in the pool at the Paralympic Games.

"We have a number of experienced swimmers on the team who are reaching their peaks as athletes and will be highly competitive in London.

"We also have a number of athletes going to their first Games who have shown enormous potential at various competitions over the past two years.

"They could cause some upsets in London.

"Countries like Ukraine, China and the United States have always had very good swim teams but this time we're likely to also see more medallists from countries like Great Britain and Russia who have really stepped up their programmes over the last four years."

The team will arrive in Britain on August 10 for a pre-Games camp in Cardiff.

The team, 35-strong, is the final sport squad to be confirmed by Australia, who are sending 161 athletes to London in total.

Australia is hugely successful in swimming, having won 101 gold medals since the first Paralympic Games, as well as 253 silver and bronze medals.

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