If 22 year old Jared Bidwell competes at the 2012 London Olympics he will have conquered an almighty mountain.

As he sits in Australia’s quad sculls boat at the starting line with his teammates he will be entirely focused on the event about to be raced, thankfully not thinking of the life threatening illness that forced him into an induced coma just three years earlier.

Two years after that health setback Bidwell went on to win a World Championship silver medal rowing with Dan Noonan, Nick Hudson and David Crawshay (pictured), proving that his training efforts since contracting encephalitis were not in vain.

Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain and symptoms include fever, headache, sensitivity to sunlight, weakness and seizures.

It was in Perth in May of 2007 when Bidwell was attempting to qualify for Australia’s under-23 world championship squad when his fighting fit body contracted the sometimes lethal disease.

“I was in an induced coma for five days in hospital, people can die from it and it can lead to brain damage, so I consider myself pretty lucky,” explained Bidwell to the Courier Mail in April.

“The first goal once I started getting better was just to get back in the gym and the boat. My doctor told me: 'You should take a year off, but I know you don't want to hear that'. It was six or seven months before I felt I could push myself in training.”

And push himself he did.

The World Rowing Championships were in Poznan, Poland in August 2009. Bidwell had earned his place on a silver medal winning senior crew with just 20 months of training after the under-23 trials in Perth.

WCSN subscribers can watch that silver medal performance by clicking here.

Brisbane born Bidwell has generated quite a substantial list of admirers in recent years. Lincoln Handley the head coach at the University of Queensland Rowing Club explained that “he's not as physically gifted as some in terms of height, but he's a very hard racer and a pretty determined competitor.”

After impressive results with the Anglican Church Grammar School and for UQ, Bidwell was awarded a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport where he undertook studies in Business Management.

He also admits to playing the guitar and the Australian Stock Market when he can find the time.

In March 2010, Bidwell and hundreds of other rowers will be given further preparation for the London Games with a competitive field scheduled for the Australian National Championships in Nagambie, Victoria.

For the first time ever, the finals racing and medal ceremonies will be broadcast live, exclusive to WCSN subscribers.

Extraordinarily, thanks to his determination, it seems as though Bidwell is destined to achieve his long term dream of rowing wearing the green and gold in London, an image he used extensively to help get him through some incredibly trying times.

"I'd love to go to the London Olympics. That's got to be the ultimate goal."

(Photo by Kris Szatsznajder: World Championships Poznan, Poland - Silver Medalists (L-R) Nick Hudson, Jared Bidwell, David Crawshay and Dan Noonan)