Ian Thorpe’s emotional and raw interview reminds us why he is Australia’s golden boy
IAN THORPE’S interview with Michael Parkinson was emotional and raw, and reminded us all of the reasons he is our golden boy and a national sporting hero.
IAN Thorpe looked Michael Parkinson in the eye on Sunday night and told him that he was gay. It was emotional and raw but certainly wasn’t the most compelling moment of the interview.
Those moments bubbled to surface when Thorpe talked about swimming.
Spine-tingling footage of arguably the world’s greatest swimmer claiming gold for Australia at the Sydney Olympic Games as part of the glorious 4x100m freestyle team is why Thorpe is a national hero. Not to mention the other four Olympic gold medals he was draped around his neck.
The kid helped smash American guitars, had buckloads of talent, was the fastest in the world but above all, he was humble. A true Aussie champion. Today, he is back in the glaring spotlight for everything but his swimming.
Just in case you’re wondering why the world stopped to hear what the Thorpedo had to say to Parkinson, swimming reporter Todd Balym has the five golden reasons why.
Sydney 2000 Olympics: 4x100m freestyle, GOLD, 3:13.67 (world record)
IF Australian swimming legend Dawn Fraser can call this “probably the greatest race I have ever seen”, then it’s only fitting the rest of the country agrees.
This was Australia’s most memorable moment of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The most shocking and incredible triumph of the home Games.
USA had never been beaten in the 4x100m freestyle in seven Olympics and loudmouth sprinter Gary Hall had boasted before the Games his team would “smash them like guitars.”
“I like Australia, in truth. I like Australians. The country is beautiful, and the people are admirable. Good humour and genuine kindness seem a predominant characteristic. My biased opinion says that we will smash them like guitars,” Hall told a Sports Illustrated before the Games.
“Historically the U.S. has always risen to the occasion. But the logic in that remote area of my brain says it won’t be so easy for the United States to dominate the waters this time. Whatever the results, the world will witness great swimming.”
As if scripted by both USA and Australia, Hall would come up against Thorpe in the final anchor leg.
But at first, this relay was all about Michael Klim.
The Australian sprinter stunned everybody with a relay lead off time of 48.18s, a new individual world record.
Chris Fydler swam second and while USA’s Neil Walker hit the lead in the second lap, the Aussie veteran fought back to maintain first place at the halfway point.
But that was Australia’s two fastest men done and now it was a matter of holding on to the death.
Ashley Callus was up next and despite being the unheralded swimmer in the team he more than held his own, keeping Jason Lezak at bay to hand over to Thorpe with a tiny lead.
Thorpe was never known as a great starter, but he nailed this one. He surfaced with a full body length on Hall.
Hall was a sprint specialist and Thorpe had broken the 400m world record just over an hour earlier, his tank was surely empty.
By the 50m turn it was Hall in the lead. It was the same with 25m to go, but the giant black shadow was lurking.
In the a finish that is still rated as the greatest of all-time in swimming circles, Thorpe pulled himself over the top of Hall to beat the American home by 0.19s.
Thorpe climbed out on the pool deck to join his teammates who stood proudly, fist pumping to the crowd and play air guitar at the cocky USA team.
Thorpe said this victory meant more to him than his individual triumphs.
“Being able to share that experience with three other swimmers was incredible,” he said.
Hall was gracious in defeat, admitting he not only can’t smash guitars he can’t play them either.
“I don’t even know how to play the guitar,” Hall said.
“I consider it the best relay race I’ve ever been part of. I doff my cap to the great Ian Thorpe. He swum better than I did.”
Sydney 2000 Olympics: 400m freestyle, GOLD, 3:40.59 (world record)
The front page headline of the Daily Telegraph just days before Ian Thorpe’s Olympic debut at the 2000 Sydney Games screamed “Invincible.”
It was perhaps the most succinct and correct headline in newspaper history, for Thorpe was simply unbeatable over the 400m freestyle.
With the weight of the world on his 17-year-old shoulders, and Australia still without a gold medal on night one of the Games, Thorpe lined up for the 400m freestyle final.
From start to finish the Thorpedo, in his trademark long black suit, dominated the race.
He shot to an early lead, just over one second ahead of compatriot Grant Hackett, and kept a well out in front before applying his after-burners in the final 100m to win the gold medal in 3:40.59.
Ian the Invincible had won gold by almost three seconds, obliterated his own record by almost a full second and became an instant national hero.
“It was great with my home team, my home crowd. Thank you, Sydney; thank you, Australia; thank you, everyone,” Thorpe said at the time.
Sydney 2000 Olympics: 4x200m freestyle, GOLD, 7:07.05 (world record)
This was Australia’s relay gold medal of the pool that was never in doubt. It was the banker.
With home town hero Ian Thorpe leading off Australia’s relay, and his 200m freestyle nemesis Pieter van den Hoogenband opting to anchor The Netherlands team, it was the Thorpedo’s chance to race in open and clear water.
Thorpe didn’t disappoint. He led from start to finish in his leg, posting a very strong 1:46.03 lead off time that was world class, but still not as fast as Hoogenband had swum to claim individual gold 24 hours earlier.
But what Thorpe’s lead off swim had done was give Australia a 10m lead. From that point on the team of Michael Klim, Bill Kirby and Todd Pearson were never challenged.
The Australians stormed home to win a world record time of 7:07.05, beating USA by 5.49 seconds for the greatest relay margin winning record in almost half a century of Olympic history.
Athens 2004 Olympics: 400m freestyle, GOLD, 3:43.10
It all started with the most infamous false start in swimming history. The flop.
At the selection trials in Sydney, Thorpe reacted to a noise and fell into the pool before the starter’s gun. The result was immediate disqualification.
“What happened — I responded to a noise that I heard that wasn’t the starter’s signal,” he said.
“And it’s like those split seconds of, you know, I learned to react to noise, and it was my brain saying, “That wasn’t the noise you were supposed to react to.”
“Then I felt myself falling.”
The media storm that followed was as intense as any period in Thorpe’s career. Training partner Craig Stevens eventually gave up his position in the race to allow the Olympic champ to defend his title on day one in Athens.
But with Thorpe moving into the 100m freestyle at these Olympics, the champ was vulnerable to Grant Hackett over eight laps.
Hackett, desperate to finally beat Thorpe in the 400m freestyle, went to the extreme and shaved his head bald hoping a few tenths of a second difference could win him gold.
It was a tussle for the ages. Thorpe and Hackett exchanges surges, one after another, each trying to put more pressure on their rival as they fought for gold.
But just as it had been for their entire career, Thorpe’s afterburners were just a tad too much for Hackett even though the distance king was closing fast at the very end. Thorpe won in 3:43.10, just 0.26s ahead of Hackett.
Thorpe appeared to shed a tear as he celebrated the win and immediately told team members after the race he would never swim another 400m freestyle again.
“A lot of people have sacrificed a lot to give me this opportunity, not just Craig Stevens in giving me the chance to swim this race and defend my Olympic title, but also my coach (Tracey Menzies), my parents, my family and friends and I really do appreciate all that,” Thorpe said.
Hackett could only look at his coach Denis Cotterell in disbelief, holding up his thumb and finger to indicate the tiny margin between gold and silver.
“I just needed a few more metres … it was a great race,” Hackett said.
“Ian and I have had some many great battles over the year and I guess this has just added another one to the history books.”
Athens 2004 Olympics: 200m freestyle, GOLD, 1:44.71
It was billed as the Race of the Century. The 200m freestyle final between the three biggest names in swimming history.
Olympic champ Pieter van den Hoogenband, world record holder Ian Thorpe and the man who would become the greatest Olympian of all-time Michael Phelps.
Such is the high calibre talent in this race that it’s often forgotten that Grant Hackett was also in the final, finishing fifth.
If the Melbourne Cup is the race that stops the nation, this was the swimming race that captivated the world.
Three greats, four laps, one winner.
Just as he had done in Sydney, Hoogie lived up to his nickname of “Flying Dutchman” with an incredible start.
At the 100m mark Hoogenband was more than a second under Thorpe’s 2001 world record, but Thorpe was just a few tenths on his tail.
With 50m to go, the Dutch star was still ahead of both Thorpe and his world record.
But Thorpe still had more to give. He had one last counter-attack and Hoogie could not rise to this challenge.
Thorpe won the gold in 1:44.71, faster than Hoogenband’s winning time in Sydney, with the Dutchman second and Phelps a very-fast closing third.
“Now we’re even, it will be an even tougher race in Beijing,” Thorpe said afterwards.
They never raced again.
Originally published as Ian Thorpe’s emotional and raw interview reminds us why he is Australia’s golden boy
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