James Turner says he has been proving people wrong since he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a child.
"For a lot of time when I was a kid, I was always told that I'd never be anything more than, like, a good club athlete -- I'd never get past club athletics, I'd never get to be anything more than a decent club player in football."
The youth from Diamond Beach, on the New South Wales mid-north coast, started his career as an athlete playing football.
But after the Pararoos missed out on qualifying for last year's Rio Paralympics, he received an offer to represent Australia in Para Athletics.
"I found an email on my computer from the Athletics department saying, 'Hey, you used to run 800 metres, and your classification is now more impaired in football, so have a look and see how you can go in Para Athletics.' So I took it up and decided to give it a go."
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Turner achieved instant success, winning gold in the T36 800-metres event at the Rio Paralympics in a world-record time.
"One of my dreams when I was 5 was that, one day, I would be the best in the world at something. And I'd achieved that, and I'm like, 'Oh, jeez, what's next now?' So that was a bit tough at first. It was ... quite confronting not to have a way forward for a bit."
He soon learned the 800-metres event would not be included at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, though.
The 21-year-old quickly adapted, winning gold in the 200-, 400- and 800-metres events at July's World Para Athletics Championships in London.
"To be honest, it still hasn't sunk in. The medals are back at home, and I don't really look at them, because I feel like, 'Oh, jeez, am I allowed to look at them?' or 'Am I allowed to touch them?' It's really surreal, and I still just feel like maybe that's a different James that did that. But it's really weird, because I don't feel any different within myself but, yeah, I suppose I did it, so it's pretty good." (laughs ...)
Turner is now back playing football with the Pararoos but is unsure which sport to focus on.
"I've got a contract with Athletics. It's a four-year contract, so I've really got to ... I have to go to the tournaments. And I do enjoy athletics, I really enjoy athletics, I think it's great, it's really fun. But my heart is still with football, which is quite sad. And I'm sure the Athletics people hate me saying this, but, yeah ... So I am quite torn with it."
For now, he says, he will keep competing in both sports until he is told otherwise.
"Do I keep playing football, or do I keep running world records? You know, it's a really hard choice to make. I'm going to keep doing both as long as I can, to be honest."
The World Championships begin next week.
