Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe, OAMis an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first person to win six gold medals in one World Championship. In total, Thorpe has won eleven World Championship golds,...
NationalityAustralian
ProfessionSwimmer
Date of Birth13 October 1982
CitySydney, Australia
CountryAustralia
Part of me didn't know if Australia wanted its champion to be gay.
I'll go for broke. Swim faster. It's not going to be easy - this whole thing was never going to be easy.
The only thing is I am a little bit ashamed of is I didn't come out earlier, that I didn't have the strength to do it, the courage to break that lie. But everyone goes on their own path to do this, and I don't want the struggle to be so hard for other people.
This is why relays are so important, because you can find more in yourself for someone else, than what you can ever find for yourself.
This Is Me”: ”For the record, I am not gay and all my sexual experiences have been straight. I'm attracted to women, I love children and aspire to have a family one day … I know what it's like to grow up and be told what your sexuality is, then realising that it's not the full reality. I was accused of being gay before I knew who I was.
I think it's better to attempt something and fail than it is to not even attempt it, so I'm glad that I've been prepared to put myself on the line there.
Remember to do the things you enjoy away from swimming, regularly.
I swam the race like I trained to swim it. It is not mathematical. I just let my body do it. It is a lot easier if you let your body do what it is trained for.
When I go out and race, I'm not trying to beat opponents, I'm trying to beat what I have done ... to beat myself, basically. People find that hard to believe because we've had such a bias to always strive to win things. If you win something and you haven't put everything into it, you haven't actually achieved anything at all. When you've had to work hard for something and you've got the best you can out of yourself on that given day, that's where you get satisfaction from.
I am not going to allow myself not to perform well just because I don't feel well. I am bulletproof to the extent that a lot of things can be thrown at me, but it's about how much I am prepared to let them affect me
There is water in every lane, so it is OK.
For myself, losing is not coming second. It's getting out of the water knowing you could have done better. For myself, I have won every race I've been in
I hope that this isn't something that's recurring. I hope I have preparations where I am healthy and can produce my best.
I'm looking forward to actually racing again. It's been such a long time since I've raced now, but I do look forward to my life after swimming as well.