Grant Hackett
Grant Hackett
Grant Hackett OAMis an Australian swimmer, most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This achievement has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history. He also collected a gold medal in Sydney for swimming in the heats of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. He is well regarded for his versatility, and has held the...
ProfessionSwimmer
Date of Birth9 May 1980
enforced several
I would have been disqualified several times before if it had been enforced like this, definitely.
allow chance criteria flawed injured needs perform problems slightly special
It is flawed slightly and needs some tweaking so if someone is injured or sick, they still have a chance of staking a claim. Generally, I've never had problems with our criteria as it's cut-throat and you must perform on the day. But there should be something discretionary to allow athletes, in special circumstances, the chance to be in the program.
events hard nice pick rather tough work
I work very hard and pick the tough events or rather they pick me more so, and it is nice to come away and be appreciated.
body extremely felt five gears second six tough
My body felt extremely tired, ... I've got five or six gears in me, but I was crunching to get into second without a clutch. It was a tough day.
competing country hard love sacrifice
It's very hard to sacrifice a meet, especially when it's in your own country and I love competing in the Commonwealth Games,
good quite
It just didn't feel good or quite right, it did not feel like I got on my stroke,
bit feeling happy results tough
It was feeling a bit tough out there tonight. A tough swim. It has been a big programme, and I'm happy with the results I got.
final michael shame thinking
It was a shame that Ian and Michael weren't there in the final but I really wasn't thinking about that too much,
career gold junior medals since taken trained
I've been with him since I was six. For him to have trained me as a junior and taken me through my career and to gold medals has been amazing,
baton carrying certainly coaches heroes modern people valuable
Coaches like Denis are certainly the unsung heroes in modern sport and that's what carrying the baton is all about, recognising people who play such a valuable role.
college low people small stage stay system understand
We understand the stage we're in and some people just don't understand we're a small country. We don't have the college system that the US has got. They have so many swimmers but I don't think the low will stay for too long.
asked came
When I was asked who I'd like to nominate, he was the first person who came to mind,
attention broken celebrity five gold medals olympic remember won
I wouldn't say there's an imbalance. We have to remember that, yes, Ian is a big celebrity and he does get a lot of attention from the press, but he has broken 22 world records, won five Olympic gold medals and as many world championship gold medals. I think any attention he has gotten, he deserves.
certainly great honour meet sort swimmer yeah
Yeah certainly getting swimmer of the meet and all that sort of stuff, and you still have the (Michael) Phelps's, the (Michael) Crockers and (Aaron) Peirsols, and all those great competitors and it is just honour to have something like that,