Bunbury Catholic College adds our congratulations to the wave of praise washing over para swimmer and ex-student Alex Saffy who won a Commonwealth gold medal in Glasgow on 24 July.
Competing as part of the Australian Dolphins team, Alex, who has cerebral palsy, swam the Men’s 100m Butterfly S10 in 57.11 seconds for the win.
This is the medal the man dubbed ‘The Bunbury Bullet’ has been focussed on since leaving the College at the end of 2021 to pursue swimming in Canberra, through a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport.
When Alex Saffy left WA’s South West at just 16 to pursue his para swimming dreams, the hardest part was saying goodbye to his family, and the WA borders were closed due to Covid 19 restrictions.
But success has been a series of stepping stones, with bronze medals from the World Swimming Championships in 2022 and 2023, and a Commonwealth silver medal in 2022. In 2024 he won a Paralympic bronze medal and set an Oceanic record for the fastest men’s 100m Butterfly S10 swim.
Alex’s parents Stephen and Deborah Saffy moved the family from South Africa to Bunbury in 2013 and Alex attended our College from Year 7 in 2018.
Deborah described watching her son win a gold medal in the wee hours of the morning on the other side of the world as “surreal”.
She credited the College with helping to keep Alex involved in competition with opportunities to win Champion Boy awards at swimming carnivals and to represent the College.
