Ian Thorpe

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Ian Thorpe swim
Ian Thorpe 2012.jpg

Personal information
Surname: Ian James Thorpe
Nickname (s): Thorpedo; Thorpey
Nation: AustraliaAustralia Australia
Swimming style (s) : Freestyle
Society: Sopac Swim Club, Nsw
Birthday: October 13, 1982
Place of birth: Sydney
Size: 1.95 m
Weight: 104 kg
Medal table
Medals

Ian James Thorpe (born October 13, 1982 in Sydney ) is a former swimming athlete and the most successful Australian athlete to date . Since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, he has been at the forefront of international swimming. In addition to winning five gold medals at the Olympic Games, he set 13 world records . On November 21, 2006 Thorpe resigned from professional swimming. He announced his comeback on February 2, 2011 at a press conference with the intended participation in the 2012 Olympic Games . However, he failed in the national qualification.

Career

Ian was born in 1982 as the second child to parents Ken and Margaret Thorpe. At the age of eight, he discovered his passion for swimming through his sister Christina, who was three years older than him. Due to a chlorine allergy, which prevented Thorpe from keeping his head under water like the other children, he was forced to swim with his head over water from a young age. At the age of twelve, he changed both coach and pool. The training conditions changed fundamentally: Since then, he has trained twice a day, six days a week.

At the age of 13 he was the most successful participant of his year at the National Junior Championships and won all disciplines up to the 200 m distance. In the following years Thorpe broke all national and state records and won ten gold medals at the New South Wales Short Course Championships.

1997 Ian Thorpe was selected for the Pan Pacific Championships in Fukuoka and became an active member of the Australian national team. In 1999, at the Pan Pacific Championships, he accepted a $ 25,000 check for the first world record swum in the pool pool.

At the age of 15 he was already two-time world champion. The most important event for him was still to come at this point. It was the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney , his hometown.

Ian Thorpe had already won the Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships , but he was still missing an Olympic title. Despite the enormous pressure to succeed, he opened the games on the first day with a victory for the Australians over 400 m freestyle and a new world record in the time of 3: 40.59 minutes. He also helped Australia win the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay against the USA. He finished the Games with three gold and two silver medals. Because of his outstanding achievements, he was given the honor of carrying the Australian national flag at the closing ceremony.

After Sydney, further successes followed at the 2001 World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka and 2003 in Barcelona . Including nine world championship titles.

In the run-up to the 2004 Olympic Games , there was a disaster for Thorpe. When he produced an unfortunate false start at the Australian Trials on March 27, 2004 at the start of the 400 m freestyle, there seemed to be no more possibility for him to start at the Olympic Games in Athens and defend his title. A false start means immediate disqualification, and the international regulations do not allow any further attempts for false starters. The national trials are mandatory for all Australian swimmers to qualify for the Olympic Games. His Australian swimming colleague Craig Stevens decided not to start the 400 m freestyle in Athens in favor of his friend. Thorpe used this chance, he became Olympic champion and was even able to win the “ race of the century ” over 200 m freestyle against Pieter van den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps .

After the successful Athens games for him, Thorpe took a break. His subsequent comeback was marked by problems (illnesses, injuries and motivational difficulties). On November 21, 2006, Ian Thorpe announced the end of his active swimming career in Sydney at the age of 24. The main reason for the decision was that he could not take part in the trials for the next swimming world championships due to an injury. In the run-up, however, Australian media reported on Thorpes alleged overweight and lack of training. Thorpe admitted that swimming wasn't his top priority lately.

Thorpe was four times World Swimmer of the Year and six times Pacific Swimmer of the Year in his career . He is an athlete ambassador for the development aid organization Right to Play . Thorpe has been studying at Macquarie University since September 2008 .

A comeback attempt for the Olympic Games in 2012 failed. That year he also made it public that he was suffering from depression . In July 2014, Thorpe came out as gay .

Suspected doping

At the end of March 2007, the former superstar came under serious suspicion of doping. According to a report in the French sports daily L'Équipe , he was found to have elevated levels of testosterone and growth hormones in a training test in May 2006 . Thorpe denied all allegations. The world association FINA called the CAS International Court of Justice in Lausanne to pursue the case. On August 31, 2007 Thorpe was acquitted of any suspicion of doping by the Australian anti-doping agency ASADA.

Records

On July 26th, 2009 Paul Biedermann took Ian Thorpe from his last still valid world record with the world record over 400 meters freestyle.

Personal bests

Long track
100 m freestyle 48.56 s August 18, 2004 Athens
200 m freestyle 1: 44.06 min * July 25, 2001 Fukuoka
400 m freestyle 3: 40.08 min * July 30, 2002 Manchester
800 m freestyle 7: 39.16 min * July 24, 2001 Fukuoka
100 m back 55.38 s July 30, 2002 Manchester
100 m butterfly 55.66 s June 12, 2001 Monte Carlo
200 m butterfly 2: 00.28 min September 11, 1998 Kuala Lumpur
200 m layers 1: 59.66 min July 25, 2003 Barcelona
400 m layers 4: 26.42 min August 10, 1997 Fukuoka
Short course
50 m freestyle 22.24 s December 6, 2002 Melbourne
100 m freestyle 47.82 s January 25, 2003 Berlin
200 m freestyle 1: 41.10 min * February 6, 2000 Berlin
400 m freestyle 3: 34.63 min January 21, 2003 Stockholm
50 m back 24.80 s July 18, 2002 Sydney
200 m layers 1: 56.00 min January 22, 2003 Stockholm

* Official world record at the time of creation

Web links

Commons : Ian Thorpe  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Spiegel Online : Spectacular comeback: Swimming star Thorpe sets course for the Olympics , February 2, 2011
  2. ↑ sid / jr: Swimming: Ian Thorpe's Olympic dream finally burst. In: welt.de . March 18, 2012, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  3. ^ Ian Thorpe now a student at Macquarie University
  4. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: Australia's record swimmer Ian Thorpe comes out
  5. ↑ FAZ.net: Australia clears Thorpe from suspected doping
personal data
SURNAME Thorpe, Ian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thorpe, Ian James (full name); Thorpedo (nickname); Thorpey (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian swimmer
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH Sydney , Australia