Scooter Patterson spends much of his life in the pool now, but the Paralympian did not like swimming as a child and took it up reluctantly on doctors' recommendations.

Key points: Grant 'Scooter' Patterson is representing Australia at the London 2019 World Para Swimming Championships

Grant 'Scooter' Patterson is representing Australia at the London 2019 World Para Swimming Championships He was born with diastrophic dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism

He was born with diastrophic dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism His dream is to win a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics

"I wanted to play cricket or football because that's what all boys want to do," he said.

"But as I got older, I was competitive and realised I couldn't really play cricket or AFL with the boys my age because I'm this tall and they're that tall, so we gave swimming a go."

Patterson, 30, whose real name is Grant, was born with a rare form of dwarfism called diastrophic dysplasia.

He has a lack of cartilage in his joints and curvature of his bones and spine.

"Apparently there's a one in a million chance of it happening," he said.

"So there goes my parents' chance of winning the lottery — out the window, gone.

"My brother dodged a bullet and he came out tall. He's my little bigger brother."

Patterson will swim in the freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and individual medley. ( ABC Far North: Sharnie Kim )

'I looked like Jabba the Hutt'

Patterson gets around on a tricycle and picked up the nickname 'Scooter' around the time he started swimming when he was 12.

Taking up the sport spared him many operations including getting rods in his spine and surgery on his joints.

Even then he dreamed of representing Australia at the Paralympics after seeing the Canadian team train at his school pool in Cairns.

"Seeing all these people with missing limbs and seeing a whole team environment was pretty cool and I think that's what started that little fire in my head," he said.

But he gave up swimming after a couple of years and his weight ballooned.

"I put on about 20 kilos. I was about 65 kilos. I looked like Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars," he said.

"After high school I decided that being fat wasn't the right thing and I wasn't finding any girls being fat, so I decided to drop the kilos because I wanted to look better.

"Then I got back into competitive swimming and followed that dream that I had when I was a little boy of one day representing my country at the Paralympics."

Patterson picked up the nickname 'Scooter' from his swimming coaches at school. ( ABC Far North: Sharnie Kim )

Chasing the elusive Paralympic medal

Six months after reuniting with his school swimming coach, Herbie Howard, Patterson went to the nationals where he missed out on qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic team by 1.5 seconds.

He continued training, going to the World Championships and Para Pan Pacific Games along the way, and finally made it to the 2012 London Paralympics where he swam in two finals but did not medal.

Patterson was devastated when he failed to make the 2016 Rio Games squad.

"I thought maybe he'd give it up," Howard said.

"But he just looked at me and said, 'Nah, we haven't finished yet, I'll see you in the morning'. So we landed and we got back in training Monday morning."

Patterson won his first international medal at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships. ( Supplied: Swimming Australia )

Patterson is working towards qualifying for the next Paralympic Games.

"My goal at the moment is to go to Tokyo next year and have a red hot crack at trying to win that elusive Paralympic medal," he said.

'He trains harder than anyone else'

Patterson gets up at 4:30am to swim 2 to 3 kilometres before going to work as a sales representative.

He has been training seven times a week in the pool and twice a week at the gym in the lead-up to this month's World Para Swimming Championships in London where he is competing in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and individual medley events.

"On top of my 40-hour week full-time job I've got about 20 hours' training for my sport as well, so by the time I get to the weekend I'm ready for bed."

Patterson does seven pool sessions and two gym sessions a week as well as working full-time. ( ABC Far North: Sharnie Kim )

Howard described Patterson's work ethic as "brilliant".

"He trains harder than anyone else," he said.

"As far as an athlete goes, you wouldn't want anyone bar Scooter because he's just so full on and he's just got that drive and passion to succeed."

The pair has made eight national swim teams in their 12 years training together in earnest and are good mates outside of the pool.

"But we don't sit in each other's pockets. I mean he could fit in mine," Howard said.

"I couldn't handle it, he'd drive me insane, and I'm sure I'd drive him insane as well."

Herbie Howard first met Patterson nearly 20 years ago. ( ABC Far North: Sharnie Kim )

On being called a 'midget'

In the banter between Howard and Patterson, jokes using the word 'midget' fly thick and fast.

They understand some people would find it offensive but say it is good-natured and respectful.

"[Scooter] does take the piss out of himself a fair bit as well. He calls himself a midget. I'll call him a midget as well," Howard said.

"I call him short. We train short course in here, we think that's funny, so it's all little things like that."

Patterson said he simply ignored people who used the word 'midget' in a derogatory way but preferred to have fun with it rather than get upset.

"There's a lot of short people out there who hate the word 'midget' and yeah, I can see where they're coming from," he said.

"But to be honest we're on this world for a short time and if you're going to get offended by someone saying 'midget' or 'dwarf' or whatever they say, then you're constantly going to be angry for the rest of your life."

Patterson said his main concern growing up was simply fitting in with other kids.

"The whole time I was thinking, 'I want to have a car, I want to get a house, maybe have a bird one day' — I'm not so worried about that anymore — but I just wanted to be like everyone," he said.

"That's what I was worried about, 'Am I going to be able to independent when I'm older?'

"And my parents did a good job of bringing me up when I was little, they didn't wrap me in bubble wrap and they've made me to be the independent man I am today so I'm happy as Larry."

Patterson enjoys a range of extreme sports. ( Supplied: Scooter Patterson )

'Everything I do in life, I give it 158 per cent'

In his spare time, Patterson enjoys scuba diving, spear-fishing and quad biking although hobbies have taken a back seat in the lead-up to the World Championships.

"I just like getting out and having a go at everything," he said.

"I'd love to be an F1 driver, that'd be sick. I reckon it would be a great power-to-weight ratio because I'm so small.

"Life could be gone next week, I could be hit by a bus or who knows. And if I went early and I know I didn't live my life like I should, well I'd be disappointed."

But Patterson said there would be no greater thrill than achieving his dreams on the world stage.

"If I go to Tokyo and get a medal I'm going to cry because that would've been 12 years of dedication and that is better than any drug you can purchase," he said.

"Me doing this over the last 12 years has given me something to push towards. My commitment and what I show here at the pool, it rubs off in life.

"Everything I do in life I like to give it 158 per cent and do my best at it and that way you live a long and prosperous life."

Patterson is aiming for the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020. ( ABC Far North: Sharnie Kim )

Now 30, it is unclear when Patterson will retire from competitive swimming.

"I'm still going. I'm falling apart slowly, my hips are starting to play up," he said.

"My shoulders are actually good now. I think it's because I swam through it and they're like, 'Oh, he's not going to give up, stuff it, let's just keep going'."

Howard said Patterson had indicated he may finish up after making a tilt for the Tokyo Games.

"But I don't know, he may keep going, I might have to put up with him for a bit longer," he said.

"He's still swimming faster, he's still doing better training sets, he's still got that drive to improve and as long as that's still there, you never know what's going to happen," he said.

"To still be swimming, the other kids look up to him, even though they can't look up to him because he's smaller than all of them, but they do look up to him as a role model.

"The whole club and the whole team here are proud of him. He's done an amazing job."

Patterson lives by the motto: 'take no prisoners'. ( ABC Far North: Sharnie Kim )

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