Mark Swan knows the perfect way to honour his dad will be a Commonwealth Games gold medal.

Swan’s father has played a pivotal role in the Seaham para powerlifter’s career, building a bench and rack out of wood so he could continue training through lockdown.

He has since been hit by health problems and Swan is determined to make his old man proud by bringing home gold at the Glasgow 2026 Games.

Swan said: “Six years ago, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. He was given four years to live, but it's been six to seven years, and he's still as strong as ever.

“He was the one who helped me when I first started. He built me a bench and the rack out of wood, believe it or not.

“It was completely different, it didn’t have as much padding, but it worked, and I was able to train when nobody else was.

“I did my best to replicate how I would normally train. It was a bit hard being wooden and only had a little layer of carpet over the top to lie on.

“Benching on a proper para bench is a luxury compared to that, but it did the job, and that’s all that matters.

“I try to make my dad proud, all my family proud, and my wife as well. She's very supportive of the gym.”
Swan is not lacking in any confidence when it comes to making his dream a reality this summer.


The 24-year-old won silver at the Paris 2024 Paralympics before clinching bronze at the 2025 World Para Powerlifting Championships.

Standing in his way will likely be the same person who beat him to top spot at Birmingham 2022, world record holder Bonnie Bunyau Gustin of Malaysia, but Swan believes he has what it takes.

“I'm confident, very confident,” he said. “Training these past few months has just been incredible.

“I'm hitting huge PBs in the gym, so everything's lining up right. I've just got to stay healthy and strong.

“I want to leave the Games knowing that I’ve pushed everything I possibly can and that I’ve trained my hardest, inspiring anybody younger who wants to follow my journey.

“I’ve got what I want to achieve in mind, which is to win, and I don’t have to defend anything. I am going into this as an underdog, and being an Olympic medallist doesn't put any extra pressure on me.

“With me and Bonnie, we're both roughly at the same body weight, so I could weigh a little bit lighter than him on the day, and then I'll have to lift exactly what he lifts to win.”


Swan’s ultimate target is a 240kg bench press, but away from the platform, he is an outdoorsy character who finds balance in dog walking and fishing.

“It's peace of mind,” he said. “When doing something outside of sport, I can go somewhere and not have training on my mind.

“I want to be seen as a genuinely good guy, somebody you can look at and have nothing but positive things to say about them.”