Biography
Australian swimmer, an Olympic-2000 hopeful in the 100m, 200m and 400m
freestyle events. Sometimes called “Thorpedo” or “Flipper,” he is
known as a poised, confident, modest and calm teenager. Swimming from the
time he was eight years old, he keeps up practice with about 20 hours a
week in the water. Thorpe already has several world records under his
swimming belt. He broke ten world freestyle records (some improving his
own time) in nine months, from 8/22/1999 to 5/15/2000. Of these, he broke
three world records in three days at the Olympics selection meet in
Sydney. Winning the 400m freestyle World Championship title in January
1998, he became the youngest male world champion in swimming history. Ian
Thorpe is the Young Australian of the Year for 2000.
His mom, Margaret, is a teacher and his dad, Ken, a gardener. Sister
Christina is also a swimmer. A big man, Thorpe’s size 17 feet are a bit
of an embarrassment, though he’s glad they have now stopped growing.
Thorpe has suffered from migraines since he was nine or ten, although less
frequently in recent years. He defied the pain and nausea of a migraine to
break a world record at the world short-course championships in Hong Kong
in 1999.
Thorpe had a very difficult four months in early 2000. He had to deal
with a broken ankle and was accused by a German swimming coach of being a
drug cheat when his drug test was botched in Berlin. In early 2000, there
was a swim suit controversy when he featured, in cheeky TV ads for one of
his sponsors, one of their black body-length "seal suits,"
alongside some real seals on the starting blocks of a swimming pool.
Thorpe declared that he will wear a full-length body swim suit in his
Olympic swimming races. The bodysuit (which has also been called the
"frogsuit," and "Mr. Condom") has proven
controversial, with some people claiming they add buoyancy and other
advantages to swimmers. Full-body suits were cleared for use in the
Olympics by the International Amateur Swimming Federation (FINA) in late
1999.
Pin-up boy for many Australian teenagers, Thorpe, who's obviously very
busy with training (and only 17) doesn't have a steady girlfriend. As a
teen, he likes vacation-park rides, ice cream, cartoons, cookies,
water-skiing, computer games and grunge music.
Thorpe quit school at 14, studying at home and reading voraciously. At
school he usually scored in the top 5% of every subject except for
mathematics.
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