Ian James Thorpe, AM is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian. Thorpe was the first person to have been named Swimming World Swimmer of the Year four times. He announced his retirement from competitive swimming in November 2006, citing waning motivation. In total, Thorpe has won eleven World Championship gold medals.
About Ian Thorpe in brief
Ian James Thorpe, AM is an Australian retired swimmer who specialised in freestyle, but also competed in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian. Thorpe was the first person to have been named Swimming World Swimmer of the Year four times. He announced his retirement from competitive swimming in November 2006, citing waning motivation. In total, Thorpe has won eleven World Championship gold medals; this is the third-highest number of gold medals won byany swimmer. He is the only male to have won medals in the 100–200–400 combination. His father Ken was a promising cricketer at junior level, representing Bankstown District Cricket Club in Sydney’s district competition. His mother Margaret played A-grade netball, but he did not inherit his parents’ ball skills. He won all ten events at the New South Wales Age Championships at the 1996 Australian Age Championships in Brisbane, winning five gold, two bronze and two times in the 400 m freestyle and 200 m backstroke. His elder sister Christina was advised to take up swimming to strengthen a broken wrist, so by chance, the five-year-old Thorpe followed her into the pool. He acquired the nickname ‘Thorpedo’ because of his speed in swimming. His younger sister Christina competed at the 1995 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Atlanta, which doubled as selection trials for the Australian Olympic trials. He was selected for the 1996 Olympic trials in Atlanta but missed selection.
At the end of the year Thorpe qualified for the Short Course Championships, which meant he would have no realistic chance of making the top two in any event, which would have meant Olympic selection at only 13 years and six months. He finished 23rd in the 200m freestyle and 36th in the backstroke in the 1996 Atlanta Championships. He missed selection for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and was selected to gain experience to gain national competition at senior national level. In 2000, he was the youngest-ever individual male World Champion at the 1998 Perth World Championships. At 14, he became the youngest male ever to represent Australia, and his victory in the400 metre freestyle at the 1997 World Championships made him the youngest ever to win six gold medals in one World Championship. At 16, he won two bronze medals and two silver medals at the Australian Age Championship in Brisbane. At 17, he competed at his first Australian Age championships, winning bronze medals in 200 M and 400 M freestyle. At 18, he represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, winning three gold and twoSilver medals. At 19, he went on to win two gold medals and a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. At 21, he became the youngest man to win four gold medals at a single World Aquatics Championships. In 2002, he broke 13 individual long-course world records, including the 4 × 100 m and the 4-× 200 m relays in Sydney.
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