Ian Thorpe

File:Ian Thorpe Manchester.jpg

Ian Thorpe displaying the 6 gold medals he won at the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Olympic medal record
Representing Australia
Men's Swimming
	2000 Sydney	400 m freestyle
	2000 Sydney	4x100 m freestyle relay
	2000 Sydney	4x200 m freestyle relay
	2004 Athens	200 m freestyle
	2004 Athens	400 m freestyle
	2000 Sydney	200 m freestyle
	2000 Sydney	4x100 m medley relay
	2004 Athens	4x200 m freestyle relay
	2004 Athens	100 m freestyle

Ian James Thorpe OAM (born October 13, 1982), also known as the Thorpedo or Thorpey is a former Australian freestyle swimmer who is regarded as one of the greatest middle-distance swimmers of all time. He has won five Olympic Games gold medals, the most of any Australian. At the age 14, he became the youngest male to ever represent Australia and his victory in the 400 metre freestyle at the 1998 Perth World Championships the following year made him the youngest ever individual male World Champion.

Thorpe is the only person to win six gold medals in one world championships at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, and has won eleven World Championship golds in total, the most won by any swimmer. He is the only person to have been named World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine four times and was the Australian swimmer of the year from 1999 to 2003, and also a winner of the Young Australian of the Year award in 2000.

Since 1998 Thorpe has dominated the 400 m freestyle, winning the event at every Olympic, World, Commonwealth and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships until his post-2004 break. His dominance also broadened to include the 200 m freestyle where aside from a silver at the 2000 Sydney Olympics he has not been defeated at major international meets. His bronze medal in Athens in the 100m event, made him the first to win a medal in the 100-200-400 combination in a century. In total, he has broken thirteen individual long course world records. Thorpe has also pushed Australian relay teams to unprecedented success, anchoring the winning 4x100 m and leading off the 4x200 m freestyle relay teams in Sydney.

Thorpe's success has been attributed to a work ethic, mental strength, powerful kick, ability to accelerate and having a physiology suited to swimming. This lead former Australian head coach Don Talbot lo label him as "the greatest swimmer the world has seen". Although Swimming World magazine labelled his technique as "extraordinary" and "superior", Talbot disagreed, stating his belief that Thorpe has placed too much of the workload on his kick at the expense of his arms. Talbot also cited Thorpe's ability to manage his workload and his day-to-day recovery between races during a meet. At 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) and 105 kg (231 lb), he is very large for a swimmer and many thought that as he matured and continued to grow he would be unable to maintain his performance as a teenager. However, he has been able to maintain a trademark six-beat kick to power away to victory in the closing stages of races, attributed to his unusually large size 17 feet.

Early years

Thorpe's family has a sporting pedigree, with his father Ken having been a promising cricketer at junior level. Ken Thorpe had been pushed by his father Cecil Thorpe into pursuing cricket after Cecil's own career was cut short by rheumatic fever. Ken Thorpe represented Bankstown cricket club in Sydney's grade competition, achieving selection before his teammates Len Pascoe and Jeff Thomson, who later became long serving members of the Australian cricket team. Under constant pressure from his father, Ken Thorpe retired at the age of 18, only to attempt a comeback at the age of 26, even topping the batting averages in that season ahead of former Australian captain Bob Simpson. However, the years spent away from the game hindered him, and he was never chosen to represent New South Wales. Thorpe's mother Margaret competed for Bankstown in A-grade netball.

Due to Ken Thorpe's personal experience, he maintained that the most important thing was that his children enjoyed participating in sport, irrespective of the result . Thorpe was an exceptionally large baby, weighing 4.1 kg and measuring 57.5 cm in length at birth. Growing up in the working-class suburb of Milperra, New South Wales, Thorpe did not seem to inherit the ball skills which his parents possessed, instead following his elder sister Christina into swimming lessons at Padstow swimming pool when he was 5 years old, after she was given medical advice that swimming would strengthen a broken wrist.

Thorpe was initially sidelined as a young child due to chlorine allergy, and competed in first race at a school carnival at the age of seven, which he won despite swimming with his head out of the water, primarily due to him being significantly bigger than his competitors. Thorpe rose up the ranks to become the captain of the New South Wales team for the Australian Primary Schools titles in 1994, and at the State Age Short Course Championships in September, he won nine individual gold medals in his age division.

Thorpe started his secondary education in 1995 at East Hills Boys Technology High School, and was already six feet tall at the age of 12, and was now swimming under the tutelage of Doug Frost. It was a big year for the family, with Christina being selected for the national team to compete in the 1995 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Atlanta. Thorpe won bronze medals in the 200m and 400m freestyle at his first National Age Championships against 13 year olds who had already experienced their teenage growth spurt, and subsequently won all ten events at the State Age Championships later than year.

National debut

Standing 185cm and with size 15 feet, he competed at the 1996 National Age Championships in Brisbane, winning five gold in the 100 m, 200 m and 400 m freestyle, 200 m backstroke and individual medley, and two silver and bronze medals, with winning times averaging two seconds per hundred metres faster than the silver medalist. His 400 m freestyle and 200 m backstroke times qualified him for the Australian Championships in Sydney two weeks later, aged only 13 years 6 months. Theoretically competing for a position on the Australian team for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, he finished 23rd in the 400 m freestyle, in a time of 4m 11.96s and 36th in the 200m backstroke. By then end of the year, he had grown to 190 cm and 90 kg in weight and swam as a 14 year old in the Australian Short Course Championships, the selection trials for the 1997 FINA Short Course World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. He qualified in second place for his first national final in the 400 m individual medley, but swam slower in the final, missing selection. In January 1997, at the New South Wales Championships, he finished second behind Malcolm Allen in the 400 m freestyle, in a time of 3m 59.43 s. It was the first time that a 14 year old had completed the distance in under 4 minutes on Australian soil, in the process taking eight seconds off his personal best.

Thorpe went into the 1997 Australian Championships in Adelaide as a serious contender for selection in the 1997 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, having been ranked fourth in Australia following the NSW Championships. With a top-three finish and qualifying time required for selection, Thorpe qualified fourth and third for the 400 m, individual medley, and freestyle respectively. With 400 m freestyle Olympic medallists Kieren Perkins and Daniel Kowalski injured, he and Frost decided to withdraw from the medley event to conserve energy for the freestyle final. Thorpe finished third in the final behind 16-year old Queenslander Grant Hackett and Allen, setting a new personal best by six seconds of 3 m 53.44 s to become the youngest male to ever qualify for the Australian swimming team. Aged 14 years and 5 months, Thorpe was one month younger than John Konrads when he was selected for the 1956 Olympics. Frost cited Thorpe's selection as a cause for his eventual focus on freestyle, moving his emphasis away from medley and backstroke swimming. This qualifying swim was the new world age record and was the first of many battles with Hackett.

At the National Age Championships a fortnight later, he won ten individual gold medals and two bronze medals, setting six national records. Aside from the two bronze medals in the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke, he won every other event scheduled.

International debut

In June, two months before the Pan Pacific Championships, Thorpe required an appendix operation, causing him to miss two weeks of training. With the absence of qualification rules for the specific events, Thorpe opted to register in the 200 m freestyle and butterfly as well as the 400 m individual medley, in addition to the 400 m freestyle. He came fourth in his heat of the 200 m freestyle, and although he was unable to qualify for the final, he was selected for the 4x200 m freestyle after setting another personal best time of 1 m 51.46 s. He combined with Michael Klim, Ian van der Wal and Hackett to claim the silver medal, making him the youngest ever Pan Pacific medalist. Thorpe qualified for the final of the 400 m freestyle, his first at international level, and proceeded to come from fifth position at the 300m mark to claim silver in a time of 3 m 49.64 s behind Hackett. The finishing burst was to become a trademark and his time, which placed him third in the world rankings (Emiliano Brembilla of Italy was second), would have given him the silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics the previous year. In October 1997, a few days before his fifteenth birthday Thorpe qualified for the 1998 World Aquatics Championships to be held in Perth, Western Australia in January 1998 when he finished second and fourth in the 200 m and 400 m freestyle at the qualifying trials in Brisbane, setting new personal bests in both.

Youngest ever World Champion

In Perth, Thorpe was selected for the final team in the 4x200 m freestyle, after posting a time of 1 m 48.85 s with a flying start in the relay heats. After Klim, who had earlier become the 200 m freestyle world champion developed a lead for Australia, it was maintained by Hackett who passed a half-body-length lead to Thorpe over the Americans. Thorpe broke away from Tom Malchow, the 200 m butterfly gold medalist from Atlanta to set a split time of 1 m 47.67 s, the same as Klim's in the 200m final. Thorpe had given Australia with a three second lead, two seconds ahead of the world record split. Although Kowalski finished half a second outside the world record, it was the first time that Australia had won the event at either world or Olympic level since 1956. Thorpe went into the 400 m final ranked fourth in the world, behind Brembilla, Hackett and Massimiliano Rosolino of Italy. Hackett lead from the outset, and established a 2.29 s lead over Thorpe by the 300 m mark. At the 350 m mark, he lead by 1.53 s before Thorpe powered home to out-touch him by 0.15 s to become the youngest ever male individual world champion, with Hackett leading for every stroke bar the last. Thorpe's time of 3 m 46.29 s was the fourth fastest in history.

After the World Championships, Thorpe announced that he would complete his year 10 studies by a modified form of correspondence, leading to public criticism. He was disappointed after his grades had deteriorated from being first in the class in Year 8 due to his international swimming commitments in 1997. He became inundated with offers for television commercials and was subsequently mobbed in public by autograph hunters. He also became involved in work for the Children's Cancer Institute, after his sister's future brother-in-law became gravely ill with the disease.

1998 Commonwealth Games

See also: 1998 Commonwealth Games

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" class="adr" | Representing Australia

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" | Men's Swimming

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1998 Kuala Lumpur || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 400 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1998 Kuala Lumpur || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 200 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1998 Kuala Lumpur || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x100 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1998 Kuala Lumpur || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x200 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Manchester || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 400 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Manchester || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 200 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Manchester || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 100 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Manchester || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x100 m medley relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Manchester || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x100 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Manchester || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x200 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Manchester || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 100 m backstroke |} Thorpe returned to the water at the Australian Championships in Melbourne in March, which were used for selection of the 1998 Commonwealth Games team to compete in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Despite trailing by over a body-length at the 150 m mark, Thorpe powered home past Klim to win the 200 m freestyle in 1 m 47.24 s, a time faster than Klim's world championship time two months earlier in Perth. It was a Commonwealth record and secured Thorpe's first national title. He then proceeded to claim the 400 m freestyle title from Hackett and clocked 50.36 s to finish second in the 100 m freestyle in his first race in that event at the national level . He went on the European summer tour in 1998 to compete in the Mare Nostrum series, winning the 200 m-400 m double in each of three meetings at Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Canet.

In Kuala Lumpur, Thorpe's first event was the 200 m freestyle, where lead from start to finish, and although he was 0.12 s under the world record at the 150 m mark, he ended with the time of 1 m 46.70 s, just one hundredth outside Giorgio Lamberti's world record. He then combined with Klim, Kowalski and Matt Dunn in the 4x200 m freestyle relay to break the world record of the Unified Team set at the 1992 Summer Olympics by 0.09 s. Thorpe finished fourth in the final of the 100 m freestyle in 50.21 s before winning gold in the 4x100 m freestyle relay. He claimed a fourth gold in the 400 m freestyle, setting a time of 3 m 44.35 s, just 0.55 s slower than the Kieren Perkins world record which was regarded by many as the greatest individual swim in history.

Thorpe left school at the end of the year 10 that year. This decision generated consternation amongst those who believed that concentrating on only swimming would be detrimental to him, with Stephen Holland stating "If this kid just does swimming and nothing else, he won't last beyond the Sydney Olympics". Holland himself had broken world records since the age of 15 and was expected to win the 1500 m freestyle at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, but after ending his schooling to concentrate totally on swimming, he failed to win and quit the sport in despair. Thorpe however pointed to his informal search for knowledge through books and internet sources, stating "Swimming is a small part of my life". He eventually sat his school certificate on a flight to Rio de Janeiro for a FINA World Cup meet, meticulously supervised by Australian head coach Don Talbot, himself an ex-schoolteacher, using a stopwatch. At the end of the year, he became the youngest male swimmer to be named by Swimming World magazine as the World Swimmer of the Year.

1999: First World Records

1999 began with heavy media expectations that Thorpe would break inevitably break both 200 and 400m world records, with further physical growth. The first opportunity came at the 1999 Australian Championships in late March in Brisbane, which doubled as a selection event for the 1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships. Thorpe again swam with his usual tactic of breaking Hackett with a late burst in the last 150 m, but this time Perkins' record eluded him by just 0.05 s. In the 200 m event, Hackett, who was still hurting after being dropped from the world-breaking relay team the previous year, turned the tables and passed Thorpe in the final 50 m to win the race, with both ending outside Lamberti's time. Hackett went on to break the record the following night in a relay swim. Thorpe continued his improvement in the 100 m freestyle, posting 49.98 s, his first under the 50 s barrier. The Australians immediately moved on to Hong Kong for 1999 FINA Short Course World Championships, where Thorpe broke Lamberti's nine-year-old record in the 200 m freestyle, the oldest in the record books. He was forced to settle for silver in the 400 m event, with Hackett slashing 5 s from Thorpe's mark set the previous year, with Thorpe half a second behind.

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" class="adr" | Representing Australia

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" | Men's Swimming

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1999 Sydney|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 400 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1999 Sydney|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 200 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1999 Sydney|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x100 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1999 Sydney|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x200 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Yokohama|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 400 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Yokohama|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 200 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Yokohama|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 100 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Yokohama|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x100 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Yokohama|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x200 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2002 Yokohama|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x100 m medley relay |}

The 1999 Pan Pacific Championships were held in August 1999 at Sydney Olympic Park, the exact venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics the following year, and was viewed as a dry run for the Olympics with an identical schedule in place. With Thorpe expected to deliver world records, it was the first time that the event was shown live on Australian television. It was Thorpe's first international meet in his home town, and the opening night saw him pitted against Hackett and South Africa's Ryk Neethling in the 400  freestyle final. The trio reached the 200  mark in a group, on the world record split of Perkins. Thereafter, Thorpe accelerated away, taking a full body length lead in the next 40 metres, and then split at 300  1.86  ahead of world record pace. He extended it to four body lengths by the 350  and finished at a time of 3  41.83 , cutting almost two seconds from the world record, and covering the second 200  in almost the same time as the first.Talbot reacted by dubbing Thorpe as "the greatest swimmer we've [Australia] ever had". Four-time American Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines, commenting for NBC said "..he went into a balls-out sprint at at 250 - and I have never seen anything like that...I have been around swimming a long time and it's the most amazing swim I've ever seen, hands down." A formula used by the International Swimming Statisticians Association to compare world records in different events rated his performance as the best ever. He promptly donated the A$25,000 bonus for being the first person to break a world record in the pool to charity.

Immediately after the Pan Pacific Championships, Thorpe's management announced his signing to Adidas for an undisclosed six-figure sum, and that he would be wearing their new bodysuit in competition. This presented a dilemma, as the national team was sponsored and wore outfits designed by Speedo. Thorpe had a uncertain end to the year, when he twisted his ankle whilst jogging in October, breaking a bone in his ankle. He used the enforced break to work on his upper body strength, and returned at the New South Wales Metropolitan Championships in December much faster than Frost had expected. He was again named by Swimming World as the World Swimmer of the Year, and also named by Swimming Australia as its swimmer of the year. He was named Young Australian of the Year, ABC Sports Star of the Year, and male athlete of the year at the Australian Sports Award.

2000 Olympic build-up

Thorpe started 2000 looking to add a third individual event to his Olympic schedule. He contested the 1500  freestyle at the New South Wales Championships in January, which he won. Thorpe then embarked on a European World Cup tour, but this was overshadowed by comments made by German head coach Manfred Thiesmann. Thiesmann implied that Thorpe was using steroids, stating "We all know Lamberti was pumped up and his times stood for ages, but Thorpe is not only passing them - he's passing them by seconds". The Australian delegation pointed to Thorpe's clean record, and Swimming World editor-in-chief Phillip Whitten stated his belief that Thorpe was clean: "There is absolutely no reason to suspect Ian Thorpe is doping. Detailed underwater stroke analysis shows he has extraordinary technique. In addition, he exhibits none of the physical signs of drug use. His physical attributes, natural talent, excellent coaching and superior technique account entirely for his superb perfromances." At the subsequent meet in Berlin, Thorpe and American backstroke world champion Lenny Krayzelburg were drug-tested, but when the required containers were missing, the officials asked for them to be left unsealed in a fridge overnight, against protocol. After a tense standoff, German police officers were called in to take temporary responsibility for the samples. Fired up by the confrontation, Thorpe proceeded to cut more than 1.5  from his world short course record in the 200  freestyle, receiving a standing ovation from the German crowd. He still rates this performance as his best ever performance. On returning from Europe, Thorpe faced months of uncertainty as protracted negotiations were carried out, which resulted in Thorpe being allowed to wear his Adidas suit instead of the Australian uniforms provided by Speedo .

Thorpe proceeded to the Olympic selection trials at Sydney Olympic Park in May 2000. He again broke his 400m world record, cutting 0.5  to finish in 3  41.33 . The following day, he cut another 0.31  from his 200  world record to post a semi-final time of 1  45.69 . In the final, he lowered it again, overtaking a fast-starting Klim in the second half of the race to set a new mark of 1m 45.51 . His attempt to secure an individual 100  berth failed, after he finished fourth in the final without even lowering his personal best.

Thorpe faced immense expectations from the Australian public build-up to the Olympics held in Sydney, with a survey showing 79% naming Thorpe as the athlete they were most looking forward to watching. Thorpe and Frost travelled to Colorado for a month of altitude training, where they found American coaches timing each of Thorpe's work-outs. Accusations continued to flow, this time from German captain Chris-Carol Bremer, who stated that "hands and feet are unusually big" due to the use of human growth hormone. Thorpe called for the introduction of blood testing, and although a test for EPO was developed in time for the games, no successful test for hGh was found.

2000 Summer Olympics

See also: 2000 Summer Olympics

Entering the Olympics, Thorpe was expected to win as a matter of course by the Australian public, with the Sydney's Daily Telegraph posting a front page spread headlined INVINCIBLE. Thorpe cruised through the heats of the 400  on the first morning of competition and still managed to post a new Olympic record, shortening the bookmaker's odds to 50-1. In the final held that night, he lead from the start, and although Italy's Massimiliano Rosolino was within a body-length at the 300  mark, Thorpe's finishing kick extended the final margin to three body-lengths. He set a new world record of 3m 40.59 . Secret tests carried out by the Italian Olympic Committee prior to the Olympics later showed that Rosolino has abnormal levels of human growth hormone. Rosolino aside, Thorpe had left the United States' Klete Keller, the bronze medalist fifteen metres in arrears.

He lined up later that night alongside Klim, Chris Fydler and Ashley Callus to anchor the 4x100 m freestyle relay, an event in which the Americans had never been beaten. After Klim had broken the individual world record, Fydler and Callus clung onto the arm-length lead, with Thorpe ready to duel with Gary Hall Jr., the silver medalist from the previous Olympics. Thorpe timed his dive much better than Hall, and surfaced a body length ahead. Hall then overtook Thorpe, but Thorpe fought back in the last 40 m with his late-finishing style to deliver victory, just 0.17 s ahead of the Americans, breaking the world record and claiming the gold medal. It sparked wild celebrations amongst the partisan crowd, and evoked an uncharacteristic celebration from Thorpe. Whereas he would usually stare calmly at the scoreboard and slowly pump his fists, Thorpe immediately jumped out of the pool, screaming and hugging his ecstatic teammates. He even played "air guitar" to mock Hall's pre-race claim to smash the Australians like guitars. Talbot described the race as the "greatest moment" of his coaching career, but felt that the emotional euphoria negatively impacted the subsequent performance of the team.

When Thorpe broke the 200 m freestyle Olympic record in the heats the following morning, his main rival Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands stated that "I'm not really thinking about the gold. I just want to make a medal and stand on the podium." van den Hoogenband however showed his hand in the evening semifinals by cutting more than second off his personal best and breaking Thorpe's record by 0.16 s to set a new benchmark of 1 m 45.35 s. Thorpe qualified just 0.02 s slower and was under immense pressure to win the final on the following night after his efforts on the first night. van den Hoogenband, a 100 m specialist started quickly, and Thorpe chased him, reaching the 100 m just 0.04 s behind and turning at 150 m in identical times. However, by starting harder than normally, he was unable to produce his finishing kick, and Van den Hoogenband drew away to claim gold and equal his world record. Thorpe touched in 1 m 46.83 s, the first time that he had swum slower in the final than in the qualifying rounds. Thorpe lead off the 4x200 m freestyle relay the following night, but was unable to reclaim the record with a time of 1 m 46.03 s, but along with Klim, Kirby and Todd Pearson, the Australians lowered their world record to 7 m 07.05 s, finishing over five seconds ahead of the Americans to yield Thorpe's third gold. It was the largest winning margin in a relay at the Olympics for half a century.</ref> Thorpe rounded off his Olympics by swimming in the heats of the 4x100 m medley final, and collected a silver medal when the finals quartet finished behind the Americans in the last swimming event of the Olympics. Thorpe's performances were recognised when the Australian Olympic Committee granted him the honour of carrying Australia's flag at the closing ceremony. He was again named by Swimming Australia as the Swimmer of the Year, but van den Hoogenband had usurped him by Swimming World magazine as its leading male swimmer.

2001: Six World Championship gold medals

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" class="adr" | Representing Australia

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" | Men's Swimming

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1998 Perth|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 400 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1998 Perth|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x200 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2001 Fukuoka|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 800 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2001 Fukuoka|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 400 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2001 Fukuoka|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 200 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2001 Fukuoka|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x100 m medley relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2001 Fukuoka|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x100 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2001 Fukuoka|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x200 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2003 Barcelona|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 400 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2003 Barcelona|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 200 m freestyle

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2003 Barcelona|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 4x200 m freestyle relay

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2003 Barcelona|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 200 m individual medley

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 2003 Barcelona|| style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 100 m freestyle |} With the 2001 Australian Championships held in Hobart in March, Thorpe added the 800 m freestyle to his repertoire, after FINA had announced its addition for the 2001 World Aquatics Championships. Thorpe successfully defended his 400 m title with a time of 3 m 40.76 s, just 0.19 s outside his world record. The following night in the 800m event, he matched Hackett for 700m before pulling away to win by three body-lengths to break Kieren Perkins' 1994 world record. He followed this by cutting 0.66 s from van den Hoogenband's 200 m world record the following night to set a new mark of 1 m 44.69 s. This made him only the third male after John Konrads and Tim Shaw to hold world records over three distances simultaneously. His subsequent victory in the 100 m freestyle in a new personal best of 49.05 s made him the first since Konrads to hold all Australian freestyle titles from 100 m to 800 m.

With the 4x100 m freestyle relay being held after the 400 m freestyle on the first night, Thorpe appeared to be conserving energy for the relay when he reached the 200 m mark two seconds outside his world record. He gradually accelerated, but was still 0.93 s behind at the final turn, before a final 50 m burst in 24.36 s saw him cut a further 0.42 s from his world record. The relay had him in the exact position as in the previous two years, diving in fractionally ahead of American anchor Jason Lezak after Klim, Callus and Pearson had completed the first three legs. Thorpe fell behind in the early half of the leg before kicking away in the closing stages, sealing another gold with his fastest ever split of 47.87 s. Thorpe swam conservatively in the 200 m freestyle semifinal the following day, with the 800 m final just ten minutes later. He shadowed Hackett for the first 700 m, staying within a body-length and then turning in identical times, and then leading at 750 m by just 0.01 s. Again Thorpe kicked away, and finished a body-length in front, cutting his world record by over two seconds to ?. The 200m freestyle saw a rematch with van den Hoogenband, and this time Thorpe allowed him to lead through the first 100 m. He pulled even at the 150 m mark, and motored to the wall two body-lengths clear, lowering his world record to 1 m 44.06 s, prompting van den Hoogenband to raise Thorpe's arm aloft. Thorpe's run ended in the 100 m freestyle, where he set a personal best of 48.81 s to come fourth. Normal service resumed in the 4x200 m freestyle relay, when he anchored the team of Klim, Hackett and Kirby to a new world record of 7 m 04.66 s, more than two seconds faster than the time set in Sydney, leaving the German? team more than eight seconds in arrears. Having overtaken Klim as Australia's leading 100 m freestyle swimmer, Thorpe was entrusted with task of anchoring the 4x100 m medley relay team. After Matt Welsh, Regan Harrison and Geoff Huegill had finished their legs, Thorpe changed half a body-length behind the new 100 m world champion Anthony Ervin of the United States. The Americans were expected to win,and with his typically slow start, Thorpe turned a body-length behind with 50 m remaining. With an American victory seeming inevitable, Thorpe managed to accelerate home and pip Ervin in the last five metres. Thorpe's sixth gold medal made him the only swimmer to have won six gold medals at a World Championships, and formed the basis for Australia's gold medal win over the United States, 13-11. It was the first time since the 1956 Summer Olympics on home soil that Australia had topped the medal tally at a global meet. Thorpe's achievements lead to predictions that he could hold all freestyle world records from 100 m to 1500 m simultaneously and that he could match Mark Spitz's seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics, which he dismissed .

2002: Switching coaches

Thorpe was began 2002 with the Australian Championships in Brisbane in March, which was used to selected the 2002 Commonwealth Games and 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships team. His winning time of 3 m 40.54 s was the second fastest time in history, but such was the expectation on him that the Daily Telegraph ran a headline "NEWSFLASH:IAN THORPE DID NOT BREAK A WORLD RECORD". He went on to claim the 200 m event in a time one second slower than his best and the 100 m in 48.98 s, making it the first time since 1999 that he had failed to break a world record at a major meet. He also competed in the 100 m backstroke, a new experimental event, and came second in a time of 55.74 s to earn himself a Commonwealth spot in the event.

By this time, Thorpe's relationship with Frost was beginning to unravel. Thorpe had always insisted that his swimming was about enjoyment, and improving oneself in setting faster times, refusing to think in terms of victory or defeat. This contrasted with Frost, who had an aggressive and combative mindset and often made bold public statements. Thorpe ignored Frost's advice and bulked up his upper body by a further 5 kg to 105 kg, reasoning that the strength gains would outweigh any loss in flexibility, making him the heaviest elite swimmer in history and raising media concerns over his physiological strategy. On the first night Thorpe again broke his 400 m world record, lowering his mark by 0.09 s to 3 m 40.08 s, before anchoring the 4x100 m freestyle relay team to another gold. The following night, Thorpe was seen arguing with Frost in the warm-up area prior to the 200 m final over Frost's strategy of focusing on the opposition. Thorpe won gold but having failed to lower his previous best, was unusually angry, publicly stating that he "wasn't with it" and that he had "one of the worst warm-ups ever". Thorpe did manage to lower his personal best in the 100 m freestyle to 48.73 s en route to his fourth gold, and anchored the 4x200 m freestyle and 4x100 m medley relays to comfortable victories. When he collected a silver in his first international race in the 100 m backstroke with another personal best, he was forced to rebuff media comment by stating "I think it's a limiting attitude to be competing against other people when you can be challenging yourself." Despite his continual emphasis on personal performance and assertion that Spitz's record could not be matched, Frost predicted that Thorpe could win nine gold medals in one Olympics. His six gold medals equalled the record set by Susie O'Neill four years earlier in Kuala Lumpur.

At the 2002 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Yokohama, Thorpe began his campaign with a victory over Hackett in the 400 m freestyle in a pedestrian time five seconds outside world record pace, revealing that both had deliberately conserved energy for the 4x100 m freestyle relay later in the night, which Australia won, with Thorpe overtaking Jason Lezak in the last 50 m as he had done at the last Championships in 1999. He subsequently won the 200 m freestyle, and anchored the 4x200 m freestyle relay to victory. After qualifying second in the 100 m freestyle, Thorpe made his customary conservative start, turning in fourth before making up ground to win his fifth gold in a time of 48.84 s. In his final event, the 4x100 m medley relay final, Thorpe set a second fastest ever split time of 47.20 s, but was unable to prevent an American victory. After the meet he announced that his split with his coach, Doug Frost to train with Tracy Menzies, one of Frost's assistants who had yet to coach at international level. Thorpe admitted that the tension existed between him and Frost, but said that the split was amicable and cited waning motivation as the reason for his decision, stating "I decided I either had to make the change or it was to walk away from the sport." Don Talbot, now retired from his position, expressed concerns that Thorpe was making a decision whilst he was physically and emotionally drained, whilst other coaches felt that Thorpe and not Menzies would end up making the decisions.

2003

With the switch of coaches, Thorpe decided that he would change his focus to try and improve his sprinting performance in the 100 m freestyle, dropping the 800 m freestyle from his schedule despite being the reigning world champion and record holder. At the FINA World Cup event in December 2002 in Melbourne, he set a personal best in the 50 m freestyle. He participated in the European legs of the World Cup in January 2003, coming within one second of the 200 m and 0.05 s of the 400 m freestyle world records. He also set the sixth fastest ever time in the 200 m Individual medley, coming within 1.35 s of the world record, in his first international race in the event. At the Australian Championships in March held in Sydney, Thorpe did not threaten any of his world records, completing the 400 m and 200 m freestyle more than two and one seconds off his best, but still managed to hold of Hackett to retain his titles. He admitted that he was "pretty disappointed" with his performances. Thorpe announced that due to his sprint training, he hoped to swim the 100m in a time equivalent to his Pan Pacific relay split of 47.20 s, and when he only managed to tie with Ashley Callus in a time of 49.05s, lead to criticism of his form, with the Sydney Morning Herald stating "The measure of Thorpe's sprinting ability is that he could only match the efforts of a virus-riddled Callus". Thorpe found some relief by setting a new Commonwealth record of 2 m 00.11 s in his first long course 200 m individual medley outing, the fifth fastest time in the previous year. Thorpe attracted criticism when he withdrew from the inaugural Duel in the Pool against the United States with a medical complaint, but travelled to the Northern Territory to visit indigenous communities for charity work and Japan for sponsorship obligations.

Thorpe arrived 2001 World Championships in Barcelona, his first major competition under Menzies with heavy media scrutiny regarding the merits of his switch. On the first night of competition Thorpe defeated Hackett in the 400 m freestyle in a time 2.5 s outside his world record. He was subsequently under pressure in the 200m freestyle after van den Hoogenband had out qualified him by 0.78 s in the semi-finals and then lead at the 100 m mark ahead of world record pace. Thorpe managed to produce a fast finish to retain his world title in a time of 1 m 45.14 s. He then broke through for his first medal in the 100 m freestyle at a global competition, finishing behind Alex Popov and van den Hoogenband in 48.77 s. In all three freestyle events, he had swum slower than in 2002 before switching coaches. In his experimental 200 m individual medley event however, he managed to set a new personal best of 1 m 59.66 s, claiming silver behind Michael Phelps. With Michael Klim sidelined with injury, the Australians found it difficult in the relay events, with Thorpe anchoring the 4x100 m freestyle team to fourth. Thorpe anchored the 4x200 m freestyle team to retain the world title along with Hackett, Nicholas Sprenger and Craig Stevens, but with the Americans less than two seconds in arrears. Thorpe's Barcelona campaign ended when the defense of the 4x100 m medley relay failed in the heats, after an illegal changeover. At the end of the year, his standing had fallen in the eyes of Swimming World magazine, who rated him fourth in the world behind Phelps, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima and Popov. He was again named as Australian Swimmer of the Year, jointly with Hackett.

2004 Summer Olympics

See also: 2004 Summer Olympics

Following the performances of Phelps in becoming the first person to set five individual world records in one meet at the 2003 World Championships, Speedo had generated significant media publicity by offering Phelps USD 1 million if he could match Spitz's seven golds. Thorpe was adamant that this was impossible, and scrapped the 200 m individual medley from his Olympic program . In late March 2004, Thorpe lined in the heats of the 400 m freestyle, but overbalanced whilst on the blocks and fell into the water, resulting in his disqualification. An appeal asserting that a noise had caused him to make his mistake was dismissed, eliminating him from defending his 400 m Olympic title. This prompted widespread debate, with former swimmer Shane Gould asserting that the rigid selection policy should be relaxed to maximise Australia's chances by selecting Thorpe, whilst Talbot, head coach Leigh Nugent and Kieren Perkins defending the selection policy. Public debate was also widespread, with Prime Minister of Australia John Howard describing the situation as a "tragedy". Despite the intense media spotlight, Thorpe managed to win the 100 m and 200 m freestyle events in times of 1 m 45.07s and 48.83s respectively to ensure his selection for Athens. Craig Stevens, who had claimed the second qualifying position in the 400m event, had also qualified for his preferred 1500 m freestyle event and faced immense public pressure to relinquish his 400 m position to Thorpe in the national interest, with The Australian's front-page headline reading "ONLY ONE MAN CAN COME TO THE RESCUE". Although Thorpe said that Stevens should not be pressured into stepping aside, he was also criticised for not unequivocally ruling himself out by some columnists who felt that he was inherently pressuring Stevens by making such comments. Stevens later relinquished the position, in an interview with the Seven Network who paid him A$130,000 for the rights to broadcast his announcement. This generated further ethical debate as to whether Stevens had made a decision in the national interest or Thorpe a gold medal, with the Sydney Morning Herald headline reading "It's your race, Ian, at $325 a metre". Thorpe accepted the position and was further attacked by Perkins, who described the affair as "grubby" and "a very, very sad tale for Australian sport", saying the pressure put upon Stevens was "disgusting".

The burden was further compounded by the media attention surrounding Phelps, who had decided that the 200 m freestyle would be one of the events in his quest for eight gold medals. This prompted many media outlets to label the clash between Thorpe, van den Hoogenband, Phelps and Hackett as The race of the century. With the growing spotlight he tried to avoid media attention, tersely stating at the pre-Olympics training camp in Germany that "If I'm stepping on people's toes, they can live with that, because I have to race at the Olympics and I'm being selfish because that's what I need to do at this stage." Thorpe's increasing focus on the 100 m event, coupled with the media pressure resulted in media speculation that he was vulnerable to Hackett in the 400m event. Thorpe qualified behind Hackett in the heats, but made a slow start in the final, reaching the 100 m mark one second outside world record pace. In a topsy-turvy performance, Thorpe was passed by Klete Keller at 150 m before accelerating again to reclaim the lead by 200 m mark. Thorpe kept Hackett and Keller at around half a body-length up to the 300 m mark, before breaking to a body-length lead by 350 m. However, his finishing kick deserted him and was closed down by Hackett, holding on by only 0.26 . Thorpe appeared to shed tears, in an uncharacteristic sign of emotion, but later denied that any tears had left his eyes.He finished three seconds outside his world record and admitted that he was emotionally hindered by the selection controversy.

With Klim recently returning from a two year injury layoff, and Callus ill, Australia had no realistic chance of defending the 4x100 m freestyle relay. Thorpe anchored the team to sixth place, but it was van den Hoogenband who signalled his form ahead of the 200 m final with a split of 46.79 s. The 200 m began with van den Hoogenband again attacking immediately, reaching the 100 m mark in 50.42 s, more than a second within the world record split, with Thorpe half a body-length behind. Thorpe gradually reduced the lead before passing van den Hoogenband in the last 50 m to win by half a body-length, in a new Olympic record of 1 m 44.71 s. Having achieved what had eluded him four years earlier, he showed more emotion, immediately tearing off his cap, punching the air and screaming. Six years of Australian domination in the 4x200 m freestyle relay ended the following night when Hackett, Klim and Sprenger had put Thorpe into the final leg 1.48 s behind Keller. Thorpe gradually reduced the margin to 0.6 s by the last turn, but on this occasion was unable to bring Australia home, being touched out by 0.13 s. Thorpe later found himself on the other side of close result when he was the last qualifier into the 100m freestyle by 0.01 s. In the final, he reached the 50 m mark in sixth place before a fast finish earned him a bronze medal in a new personal best of 48.56 s. This made him the first swimmer since 1904 to medal in the 100-200-400 combination .

After the Athens Olympics, Thorpe took 17 months off from competitive swimming, skipping the 2005 World Championships.

2006: Return to competitive swimming

Thorpe began his return to competition at the New South Wales Championships in December 2005 in the 200m freestyle, and also announced that he had dropped his pet event, the 400 m freestyle with a view of concentrating on the 100 m freestyle, despite the urging of national coach Alan Thompson. He also stated his intention to retire after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Thorpe began his qualification campaign for the 2006 Commonwealth Games by winning the final of the 200 m freestyle in a time of 1 m 46.42s, expressing disappointment at a time slower than at his initial return at the State Championships the previous month. Despite setting a fast time of 48.86s in the semifinal of the 100 m freestyle, he was unable to swim faster in the final managing only 49.24s. He admitted to being disappointed with his performances, speculating that he may have misjudged his new training schedule after dropping the 100 m. However he reasserted that he was enjoying his return and was anticipating further improvement at the Commonwealth Games. On March 7, Thorpe announced that he had withdrawn from the 2006 Commonwealth Games due to bronchitis, which had prevented him from training, asserting that he would not even be of benefit in the team events. The illness that floored Thorpe was later diagnosed as a strain of glandular fever. After a further delay due to a broken hand, he then moved to Los Angeles in July to work with American coach Dave Salo, but switched to Milt Nelms due to ongoing media attention which disrupted Salo's squad. His stay was constantly surrounded by rumours that he was low on motivation, skipping training sessions and had become overweight due to unhealthy eating habits and spending too much time at celebrity events, leading to rumours that his international career was on the decline, which was denied by the Thorpe camp. Upon his return, Australian head coach Alan Thompson was confident that Thorpe was back to his "old self".

Retirement

After pulling out of the Australian Swimming Championships in Brisbane, which were the selection trials for the 2007 World Aquatics Championships, rumours circulated that Ian Thorpe was tired of swimming and would retire from the sport.

On November 21 at the age of 24, Ian Thorpe held a press conference in Sydney to officially announce his retirement from competitive swimming, and also discussed briefly his future directions.

Personal life

Thorpe is one of the most prominent and popular sportsmen in Australia, even ranked above cricket legend Don Bradman in a survey conducted by the Daily Telegraph. Aside from Adidas, Thorpe is sponsored by Australian corporate giants such as Qantas, Telstra and the Seven Network.

Thorpe is often described as a quiet, mild-mannered man whose interests include fashion, as an ambassador for Armani clothing and his own range of designer jewellery and underwear. Such interests have often resulted in Thorpe being the subject of rumours of homosexuality, with pictures of him being prevalent on the websites of many gay websites who believed that he was homosexual.

Thorpe narrowly escaped death in New York City on September 11, 2001, when he had stopped at the World Trade Center on his morning jog before returning to his hotel. By that time the September 11 terrorist attacks were perpetrated, with Thorpe fortunate to escape. . He later became a spokesperson for the unsuccessful New York city bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, even going so far as to promise to defer his retirement to compete in them at the age of 29, were New York to be successful.

Thorpe is also prominent in the campaign against drug use, inside and outside sports. He has called for the introduction of blood testing and repeatedly criticised FINA for allegedly inadequate drug-testing procedures, claiming that “for anyone to think that they're swimming at a clean Olympic Games, they'd be naive”. Although swimmers and coaches praised him, he was condemned by FINA, who accused him of bringing the sport into disrepute. He was also selected by the United Nations to lead an anti-recreational drugs campaign in Japan as well as promotional work for UNICEF for UN Children's Week.

Thorpe was involved in a reality television show in 2002 called Undercover Angels, which imitated the Charlie's Angels series, in which Thorpe directed three young women who performed good deeds for people in need. Although it was popular with the public and attracted more than a million viewers, it was widely panned by media critics. He had also been involved as an extra in the American sitcom Friends.

Thorpe is widely popular in Asia, and Japan in particular. He was identified in 2000 by TV Asahi as the swimmer likely to be the most successful at the impending 2001 Fukuoka World Championships, who used him as their marketing figurehead for the event. He arrived prior to the Championships in a series of Asahi promotional events and found himself the centre of media attention. At the competition, he was mobbed at the airport crowds 25m long upon arriving for competition, with hundreds camping outside the Australian team hotel. Praised for his humility and work ethic, he further endeared himself to the Japanese public by doing interviews in Japanese. In the wake of the tourism slump after the September 11 terrorist attacks, he agreed in 2002 to be a tourism ambassador for the Australian Tourism Commission in Japan, which included a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. In 2005 the Yakult company in Japan released a 'Thorpedo' energy drink, featuring a picture of Thorpe on the bottle. This was part of an equity deal with the So Natural food group in which Thorpe was offered a 5% stake in the company, initially worth A$1.1m in return for the use of his name and image on their products. The 15-year deal covers markets in Southeast Asia.

Thorpe is also involved in philanthropy, through his Ian Thorpe Fountain for youth Trust, which he launched in 2000. It contributes money to research on childhood illnesses and sponsors a school for orphaned children with disabilities in Beijing. It also has partnerships with the Fred Hollows Foundation and works to improve health standards amongst Australian aborigines, with Thorpe often speaking out against what he considers to be negative attitudes towards indigenous people.

See also

• List of swimmers

External links

• Ian Thorpe official website
• Ian Thorpe at Swimming Australia (archived)
• Australian Broadcasting Corporation Olympic Games Swimming website