Kate Wallington is a champion swimmer. Ever since she started swimming at age eight, she feels most at peace gliding through the water even in the face of intense competition and pressure.

She was also diagnosed with autism at age 16, and with ADHD two years later.

A lack of diagnoses as a kid meant Ms Wallington had a “rough” experience in childhood: a combination of isolation from her peers and being misunderstood by teachers led to a swathe of mental health problems.

“I was very misunderstood by the school system, which I think a lot of people are. . .It was really hard to fit in as someone who was swimming nine times a week plus gym sessions,” Ms Wallington described.

“(I was an) insane perfectionist. . . that led to some insane burnout because I just had to be the best at everything.”

The pile-on of mental health, social, and education problems — on top of several hostile experiences from swim clubs and coaches —also resulted in an epilepsy diagnosis for the champion swimmer.

It’s little wonder Ms Wallington feels most at peace in the pool. It’s a quieting, calm environment where she could escape from how life was treating her on land well into her adulthood.

“It’s just so regulating. . . it just feels right to be in the water,” she said.

“When I race, when I’m at competitions, and when I’m training, the world doesn’t exist anymore.”

It’s telling: the 20-year-old holds 14 world records, five Australian records, and a total of 11 gold medals at the 2025 Virtus World Swimming Championships.

“That was just my absolute, lifelong childhood dream. . . walking out onto the pool deck in like the green and gold, because from eight years old, I decided that I was going to represent Australia,” she said.

Ms Wallington, who is studying sports science and exercise physiology, has been taking part in AusActive’s Million Moves campaign, which aims to help Aussies create healthy habits through regular movement and exercise for free.

Ms Wallington has been leading up the Murdoch University gym’s Million Moves effort to notch up one million moves (one minute of movement = one move) between September 1 and 21.

AusActive WA general manager Karinda Lobb says a key aspect of Million Moves is to help lower the barrier of accessibility to exercise and a healthy lifestyle to Australians who might be limited by time or money.

It’s also an effort to divert people away from Australia’s already creaking health system, which Ms Lobb says spends “millions of dollars” on diseases that “could be prevented”.

“We all work together to take pressure off, you know, the hospitals and and and the system, but also get more people to understand that moving can be simple and it doesn’t have to involve a lot, and it can be at any level,” Ms Lobb said.

Through her job as a support worker, Ms Wallington has come to realise that movement for her clients — many of whom have similar diagnoses to her — was providing a space for them to regulate in a way her swimming was doing for her.

“It’s not just that I love swimming, I love competing and that I want to win and go to the Olympics. . . I genuinely need this for my everyday,” she said.

“If there was no competition at all, I would still be doing this. I would still be moving.”

In spite of her tough lot in life, Ms Wallington has found a community in both swimming and the gym, and has encouraged other Australians to find their own routines even if they’re hesitant.

“I promise you, there’s a space for everyone in sport or in exercise, and even if you haven’t found it yet, you will,” she said.

You can donate to Ms Wallington’s campaign to keep swimming for Australia here.

More information about AusActive’s free Million Moves campaign is available at millionmoves.org.au.