A career that sets the gold standard

Glittering … Thorpe with a typical haul and, right, tumbles
off the blocks in 2004.

Glittering … Thorpe with a typical haul and, right, tumbles off the blocks in 2004.
Photo: Craig Golding

Michael Cowley
November 22, 2006

A CAREER in swimming was something Ian Thorpe never considered. He had an allergy to chlorine, which meant wearing a nose clip when he swam. As a youngster, he wanted to be "a whole heap of things, from a fireman to an astronaut". But a champion swimmer? No.

Growing up in Milperra, sport was always going to be a part of Thorpe's life. His mother, Margaret, had played A-grade netball; his older sister, Christina, was a talented middle-distance swimmer, and his father, Ken, was a first-grade cricketer with Bankstown, a clubmate of Jeff Thomson and Len Pascoe.

The young Ian took an interest in cricket and soccer but, according to his father, he was "a chubby lad" who "had no eye-to-hand co-ordination at all at a very young age". Hence, a future in either game was thwarted. His sister's love of swimming led to Ian tagging along to the pool and, eventually, after being "sick of watching Christina compete at swimming carnivals", he decided he, too, wanted to give it a try.

After suffering a bout of bronchial pneumonia as a six-year-old, however, the chlorine allergy was discovered. He stayed away from the pool for a while, but eventually ventured back, sporting a protective nose clip. He joined Christina at Padstow Swimming Club, where he was taught by Jenni Ashpole and later coached by Chris Myers. That was where Ian Thorpe won his first race, swimming with his head above water.

Improvement came rapidly and, at the age of 13, Thorpe went to the national junior titles and won every event, in every stroke, over all distances up to 200m - a feat he would repeat a year later. At 14, he competed in the Australian open titles in Adelaide and finished third in the 400m behind Grant Hackett, gaining selection for the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, and in doing so becoming the youngest male swimmer ever to represent Australia.

In Japan, he won silver in the 400m freestyle, behind Hackett, and in the 4x200m freestyle relay. A record-breaking career had officially begun - but it wasn't until six months later that the Australian public discovered Ian Thorpe.

In one of the best races of the 1998 world titles in Perth, Thorpe mowed down Hackett over the final 50m to win the 400m freestyle final, becoming the youngest male world champion and gaining instant adulation and fame across the nation.

Later that year, he won four golds at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games. The following year, when dominating the Pan Pacific titles in Sydney, Thorpe broke four world records in four days, his first coming when claiming the 400m freestyle mark previously held by Kieren Perkins.

The Olympics in Sydney were the next target - but, before then, he decided to swim on the European shortcourse tour. During that trip, German coach Manfred Thiesmann claimed people suspected Thorpe of being on drugs. The claims were quickly quashed and it is believed they arose in an attempt to unsettle Thorpe before his first Olympics.

In Sydney that September, after winning gold in the 400m freestyle on night one, Thorpe anchored Australia to a memorable win in the 4x100m freestyle relay, swimming down American Gary Hall jnr in the final few metres to help Australia notch another world record.

He would have to be satisfied with silver in the 200m freestyle two nights later when upstaged by Pieter van den Hoogenband, but he would leave his first Games with three golds, having anchored the 4x200m relay to gold - and another world record.

The next major event was the 2001 world championships, back in Fukuoka. This time, Thorpe, at the peak of his powers, won a record six events and broke four world records.

While on holiday soon after that event, he was in New York on September 11. A double booking meant that he was unable to stay across the street from the World Trade Centre. "I don't know whether it was a set of lucky coincidences or the way my hand was dealt on the day," Thorpe said afterwards. "But it made me do a lot of reassessing. You get your priorities sorted out, as well as learning to acknowledge that sport isn't the be-all and end-all."

Thorpe was back competing in 2002. He went to Manchester for the Commonwealth Games, where he scooped another six gold and one silver, in the 100m backstroke. Later that year he was in Japan again for the Pan Pacs. He won five gold and a silver, but the bigger news was that he had decided to split from coach Doug Frost to join understudy Tracey Menzies, a move he said he needed to reinvigorate his enthusiasm for swimming.

In 2003, he won another three golds at the world championships in Barcelona, taking his tally to 11 world titles - the most won in history.

At the Olympic qualifiers in March 2004, Thorpe was involved in what was arguably the biggest story of his career. Standing on the blocks at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre for the start of the 400m freestyle, Thorpe became unbalanced and toppled into the pool before the starter's gun. Everyone knew what this meant, but nobody wanted to believe it.

Thorpe would be disqualified and his dream of defending his 400m title in Athens would be gone … or so we thought. Hackett won the 400m and Thorpe's training partner and friend, Craig Stevens, finished second to grab the second berth on the team.

For weeks, debate raged over whether Stevens should surrender his 400m place to Thorpe and focus on the 1500m, for which he had also qualified. He chose the former, and Thorpe produced one of the best performances of his career to win gold on an emotionally charged Athens night. For the first time, tears welled in his eyes after touching the wall.

He would also win gold in the 200m freestyle, dubbed the "Race of the Century", beating van den Hoogenband, Michael Phelps and Hackett; silver in the 4x200m relay; and bronze in the 100m. We didn't know it, but it would be his last international swim.

A year away from competition ended when he returned for the Commonwealth Games trials earlier this year, but illness meant he missed the Games. A broken hand followed, while a training sabbatical in the US failed to ignite his hunger.

And so, just six weeks after his 24th birthday, the man Don Talbot called our greatest ever swimmer, has brought an end to a special career.

