FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Once Fresno's Braxton Wong hits the water, you won't notice a difference.
But the 17-year-old is swimming with just one leg.
"I was around 4 when I had my surgery when I had my leg amputated," he said.
Originally born in China with a deformed leg, Wong would find himself alone in an orphanage before his American parents adopted him, making the move to Fresno to start a new life.
Just six months after surgery, Wong was in the pool.
"I felt like I was going to drown," he said.
But that feeling would go away, with gradual comfort turning into competition.
"Probably when I was about 12, when I went to my first parameet and I was like, 'Oh, I'm getting close to the top.'"
For the past six years, Wong has been honing his skills with the Clovis Swim club -- excelling in the butterfly.
"He's exceptional," says coach Mark Bennet. "Part of that has to do with just dealing with adversity and having to go through what he's gone through to get where he is."
For coach Bennett, Wong is just like any other athlete.
"You do forget that he does have the prosthetic and that he is limited in some capacity," he said.
Now, Wong has his eyes set on the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris.
"So I have the national cut -- I need to get the Minimum Qualifying Standard," he said.
With the games just a year away, the pressure is on.
"He'll be 18 years old, which is almost primetime for a male his age," Bennett said.
Wong is hoping to overcome the odds like he has so many times before.
"I've always worked up towards it, and I've always looked forward to it - it would mean a lot," he said.
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