As good as gold: Ian Thorpe

By PETER JESSUP

Sydney swimmer Ian Thorpe will have two major motivations when he launches himself from the starting blocks at his hometown pool.

He has the capability to become Australia's best-ever Olympian, the first to win four golds at one Games. But he cares little for that, and less for pre-Games pronouncements that have labelled him the greatest ever.

"I think that's offensive to all those swimmers who have come before me," said the holder of 10 world records.
"Until I perform, and if I perform over a long period of time and am successful at the Olympics, then I can be considered amongst the best in the world. Never before then."

It's typical Thorpe modesty and a pointer to those twin motivating factors.

Way out in front in Thorpe's mind is wanting to perform for his mate and brother-in-law Michael Williams, who wrestles with a rare cancer. Secondly, Thorpe wants to silence detractors who have made drug allegations.

Williams will be at the Homebush pool to see his hero go for gold in the 200m and 400m freestyle and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays. His presence in itself is a blessing that 17-year-old Thorpe, who has the sporting world at his size 17 feet, regards as being above anything he can achieve.

The pair met when Ian's older sister, Christina, linked up with Michael's older brother. The lovebirds had to babysit little brothers who became close friends. But while 16-year-old Ian was stepping up to world competition, 14-year-old Michael was battling Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had a lengthy tumour removed from his gut, lost his hair from chemotherapy and was surviving on life support.

At the time, Thorpe was having trouble motivating himself to get up at 4.30 am for the first of two daily, 8km training sessions.

After visiting Michael in hospital one day he had a flash of inspiration. "I came to realise what was wrong, that my talent was a gift and that I'd started questioning it, expecting too much of it. I'd almost gotten greedy instead of being grateful for it. What I saw because of Michael was how precious life is, how important it is to love what you do, every day. It changed my life, opened my eyes to the world. When I was feeling in pain in workouts I'd start thinking 'this is nothing, Michael's feeling much more pain, there are plenty of people feeling much more'."

Later that year he flew Michael, by then recovered from the operation, to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. Christina has since married David Williams, and the boys still compete on computer games.

But there is little life outside swimming now for the gangly teen. He was a straight-A student at East Hills Boys Technology High, but after cleaning up every race between 50m and 200m at age group championships his schooling has taken a back seat. He hardly needs something to fall back on - endorsements from Qantas, Telstra, Uncle Tobys, the Sydney Water Board, Channel Seven and Westpac are filling his bank account. The previous wunderkind, compatriot Keiren Perkins, made an estimated $A15 million ($20 million) in his four years in the position Thorpe holds now as best-performing prospect.

Thorpe doesn't play other sport, preferring movies and video games as relaxation. His father, Ken, was a Sydney A-grade cricketer for Bankstown but young Ian was too uncoordinated for the game. He took to the pool at age 8, when Christina began swimming to rehabilitate a broken arm. Her brother was a natural, with an unusually supple back allowing an easy but powerful roll as he strokes, flipper-like oversized feet and his size producing an extra-long stroke.

Now, with a 1.9m armspan that is 20cm longer than average for his 1.93m height, his stroke takes in 3.1m. The back movement is supplemented by a sort of shoulder dislocation that keeps his arms close to his body and head, increasing forward pull and lifting him higher in the water than other swimmers and thus reducing drag. And competitors try to avoid swimming in the next-door lanes - wash from his feet has been described as "like swimming in a washing machine."

Thorpe is happy with life at home with his parents in Milperra. Sister Christina and mum Margaret, a former teacher, now help organise his daily routine of public appearances around training. It's OK that 99 per cent of his meals are eaten at home and the only drink is bottled water as he maintains a body-fat content of 7 per cent against the teenage average of 15. "It's fine to be happy with your swimming but if you're not happy with your life around that, you won't perform well."

The only thing he's not happy with, typical teenager, is how he looks. He doesn't like seeing pictures of himself in the paper, the prominent nose, the wide mouth and full lips. It looks posed and makes him self-conscious.

Distinctly non-teenage is his reaction to accusations he is a drug cheat, that his big feet were fed by illegal growth hormone. Thorpe points out that he has been tested about once a fortnight for the past year and that the swimming body Fina spent around $15,000 on testing him in 1999. The accusers were trying to distract him, he said. It is not working.

After breaking Italian Giorgio Lamberti's 10-year-old record in the 200m freestyle last year, Thorpe reckoned he "still had a bit in reserve." He won't be drawn on it, but believes he can push that time further.

His routine is no different despite the weight of the nation's expectations. "Past preparations have worked for me so I'm not going to change."

He knows that if he has done the work, there will be no nerves when he stands on the starting blocks at the Homebush pool. "If I've done the hard work I can approach a race without any pressure. At that point I think to myself, 'this is the fun part'."

Fun for everyone, perhaps, except those not keen on Advance, Australia Fair