Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe, OAMis an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first person to win six gold medals in one World Championship. In total, Thorpe has won eleven World Championship golds,...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionSwimmer
Date of Birth13 October 1982
CitySydney, Australia
CountryAustralia
I have never taken so many tablets in my life as I have in the past few weeks.
You tell your coach that you're going skiing for the weekend and they freak out a little bit,
It's getting close to being two years away, so it's close, and it's exciting already,
There is water in every lane, so it is OK.
For myself, losing is not coming second. It's getting out of the water knowing you could have done better. For myself, I have won every race I've been in
I am not going to allow myself not to perform well just because I don't feel well. I am bulletproof to the extent that a lot of things can be thrown at me, but it's about how much I am prepared to let them affect me
I swam the race like I trained to swim it. It is not mathematical. I just let my body do it. It is a lot easier if you let your body do what it is trained for.
This Is Me”: ”For the record, I am not gay and all my sexual experiences have been straight. I'm attracted to women, I love children and aspire to have a family one day … I know what it's like to grow up and be told what your sexuality is, then realising that it's not the full reality. I was accused of being gay before I knew who I was.
This is why relays are so important, because you can find more in yourself for someone else, than what you can ever find for yourself.
I've missed out on a huge goal but the desire is still there.
I've enjoyed training again, I've enjoyed pushing myself in the pool and I'll keep on swimming until I feel I cannot get any more out of myself.
Part of me didn't know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay.
People ask me 'what was going through your mind in the race?' and I don't know. I try and ...let my body do what it knows
I'm disappointed that I really haven't been able to race in a way that is reflective of the amount of work that I have done and how I have trained. But I don't regret giving this a go.