Olympic Refugee Team member Matin Balsini has always done things his own way. At Tokyo 2020 he was the sole swimmer from the Islamic Republic of Iran where he self-coached his way to a sub-two minute 200m Butterfly.

He told his federation he had a coach from Europe, but he didn’t. Instead, as a 17 year-old, he took over responsibility for his own training, writing his own program and training sets.

"After six months I’d dropped my PB from 2:06 to 1:59,” Balsini explained.

“I was the first Iranian to swim under two minutes. It was a time that in Beijing 2008 would get you to the Olympic final."

Despite quickly evolving into Iran’s best swimmer, his decision was not well received by all.

"I was just trying to get better,” he said.

After recording career-best times in the 100m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle, and 200m Butterfly at the World Aquatics Championships (25m) in Abu Dhabi in 2021, Balsini decided to apply for a United Kingdom visa to further his training.

"I wasn’t coming for asylum, I just wanted to train in peace for the World Championships in 2022," said Balsini.

"I spent a lot of money and time to come to train at Guildford swimming club. For four months I was training very hard - 20 hours training and eight hours gym per week.”

"But three weeks before Budapest, Iran pulled me from the entry list, and didn’t tell me why. I was the only Iranian qualified at the time. I was very angry. I didn’t know what to do. All the hard work had gone."

It was at that point Balsini decided to seek asylum. The process was not easy and Basini did not race in 2022 or for the first half of 2023.

"I came back to swimming nine months ago, and I really need to thank the IOC for the Refugee Team, so people like me, who can’t represent their countries, still have an opportunity," he said.

"It feels so good when you know there are still some people who support you, who care about what you are doing. And I really like the coaches here in Guildford, they are so nice and so knowledgeable."

Despite the prolonged break in training, Balsini is back to his best, swimming within a second of his lifetime best in the 200m Butterfly here in Paris to place 26th overall.

"If I’d swum last year, I’d have aimed for the final," said Balsini.

"But now I want to drop my PB to maybe one minute 57 seconds… then I am aiming to keep going for LA 2028."