As it has been reported by many new agencies Ian Thorpe has decided to give up his quest to return to being competitive on the international stage. Thorpe will continue to train with Gennadi Touretski in Switzerland he is doing so simply for the love of the sport.
“Although I am going to continue swimming, realistically I don’t think I will be able to get back to a position where I am at the top of the sport,” Thorpe told the Sunday Telegraph.
A shoulder problem that has persisted for several months has made he come to this decision, “”When I did it, I was advised, you have two options, one is surgery and the second is you have to rest. I have had surgery once before. It was just after I stopped swimming the first time, it took me around two years to recover and I have decided I am not having surgery again.”
“I went to the physio thinking `Oh it can’t be that bad’, to then finding out it is actually quite serious,” told the Telegraph.
“I don’t like it (the diagnosis),” Thorpe said. “Well, what can you do? I am a little philosophical about it. One I am glad I have rediscovered my passion for something I loved doing as a kid – I ended up hating what I was doing – but now I am enjoying it again.”
Regaining his love for the sport has resulted in the Thorpedo having the desire to help Swimming Australia in different ways, “The one thing in my return to swimming is that I found my love for it again. I want to see Australia succeed and I want the team to feel like the team I was on,” Thorpe told the Herald Sun.
”That’s what I would like. It was a wonderful period of sport for Australia and the Australian team.”
He feels that through mentoring young athletes and by assisting with sponsorship opportunities, he can make a positive contribution to the sport of swimming in Australia “‘I have put my hand up to assist because I think I have something to offer.”
”I would like to be able to not only mentor what’s the senior element, but probably be more actively involved in the junior development in the sport.”
Thorpe has reached out to people both within Swimming Australia and the organizations board letting them know he is motivated to help and would like to make sure the athletes of today can learn from the past successes of their nation and use those lessons to recreate the culture on the national team that they once had.
”I think what Swimming Australia and Australian swimming history has, what we have, is something that is quite unique,” Thorpe expressed to the Herald Sun.
”I have seen this now from the outside that Australian swimming and its swimmers are given an iconic status in this sport.”
”What needs to happens is we need to look back at what is a very proud history and realise the athletes that are involved, that you are a part of this history – it’s not all about now.”
Thorpe was there when the Australians were on top of the swimming world and he feels that can happen again, but at this moment they are going through a transitional period, “”I think Swimming Australia and Australian swimming will return and I think it will be as strong as what it was. It just really is this transitional period.”
He feels that his biggest impact can be made in the form of mentorship, but he is also very willing and interested in helping Swimming Australia attract sponsorship dollars, ”I would also like to assist with sponsorship as well,” Thorpe told the Herald.
“That is an important thing to try to get some sponsors back on line, but that’s not my main focus, there are other people in the organisation that can do that.”
Swimming Australia took a big blow when EnergyAustralia decided terminate their contract with the sporting organization coming on the heels of the bullying and Stilnox incidents that occurred at the time surrounding the Olympic Games in London.
EnergyAustralia’s decision to pull out of the five year agreement cost Swimming Australia approximately 6.5 million dollars.
Swimming Australia was also negatively affected by a reduction of approximately $500,000 in government funding.
Despite the negative reaction of many sponsors earlier this year Swimming Australia garnered the support of Gina Rinehart who created the Georgina Hope Swimmers Foundation, which will provide 10 million dollars of support for Australian swimmers.
For all your Australian content remember to check the SwimSwam Australian Channel, which can be found on the drop down menu under news.
I really wonder what Thorpe could have done if his head was in the right place throughout his career. According to his biography, he began developing problems quite early on and almost quit by 2002. Some of his best performances were when he was massively hung over. He and Phelps were probably the most natural swimmers of all time.
Hopefully he can do well as a mentor, the mental state of elite swimmers is becoming a worrying issue. I agree with his assessment about the strength of the Australian team, it is very young and there is a ton of talent emerging. I can see great things at the 2015-16-17 World Championships and Olympics.
I agree.
I really think Thorpe did not fully realize his potential/talent.
Thorpe did really have some personal/psychological issues, and it is pity that it got in the way.
Doesn’t make much sense to me. His shoulder is injured so he can’t swim at an elite level, but he can continue to train if he presumably just backs off the yardage a bit? I don’t think he was ever going to be an elite swimmer again even if he was healthy, but he was good in his day. He wore the suit, but the suits were popular. Not much is said of the advantage he got from that full body suit, but it’s undeniable that he had an advantage although others had the same opportunity.
I agree, the suit did make a difference and I don’t think he could have done that well in his comeback anyway. Yes he broke a wr in speedos/briefs, but that time was no where near his time in the suit. Pity that the others chose not towear suits, would have been good to watch. Also funny that their were “swimsuit wars” back then and again last year.
3.41 in briefs and 3.40 in a textile suit. Not much different to me. No one in the world could go 3.41 in briefs today
…aside from Sun Yang.
I agree that Thorpe’s adidas black suit made a difference: it slowed him down.
If only he had worn a normal body suits like those worn Hackett, Phelps (neck to ankle with no sleeves), etc, he would have swum 3:38 at least.
Makes sense to me. He’s rich and he loves swimming again, so between his savings and his business ventures, he can afford to swim just for fun and to stay in shape; without having to push it and risk needing surgery.
Oh please.
This is very uninformed opinion.
Thorpe wore textile suit.
His body suit with sleeves in fact slowed him down.
Have you seen anyone swimming with sleeves in 2008/2009 even with all you can wear?
no.
why?
because it hindrance arm rotation.
Lets look at Thorpe’s last big meet without a suit and his first big meet with the suit. His last big non-suit meet was the 1999 Pan Pacs aged 16 and 9 months. His first big suit meet was the 2000 Australian Champs/Olympic trials, aged 17 and 7 months.
200m
Age 16 – 1:46.00
Age 17 – 1:45.69
400m
Age 16 – 3:41.83
Age 17 – 3:41.33
So Thorpe improved only three tenths in the 200m and five tenths in the 400m. Considering Thorpe was at the age where people always make big improvements, his suit times were arguably slower than expected. People who think Thorpe got any advantage at all are absolutely delusional. I agree… Read more »
Yes, all the facts and data show that Thorpe’s rate of improvement actually SLOWED DOWN (during the age of 17-20 where everyone’s rate should accelerate) once he wore adidas body suit.
i think thorpe generally improved earlier than most swimmers and developed on an “accelerated timeline.”
for instance when he was a world champion at age 15, he was certainly way ahead of his age. he was probably at the stage of development and swimming level a “normal” champion would get at 17-19.
Since he already was at that level he didn’t have as much to improve so his rate improvement slowed down as his body was going through 20-21 development and skill when he was 17 and 18
Thanks for the detailed analysis Bourdais. I had forgotten he already went 3:41 without the suit. By the way, even IF the suit had helped him, it would still have been legal and the other swimmers’ mistake not to use something similar.
Again,
Everyone else was also wearing neck to ankle suits. As early as early 2000s during olympics trials of all countries.
The difference: thorpe’s suit had sleeves.
Do you really think that if the suit helped him that much, others wouldn’t wear one as well? If there is a faster suit you can bet that people will use it, look at the 2008 and 2009 Olympics/World Championships. Thorpe was setting age group records as a child (many of which still stand today, some of which are virtually unbeatable), was an individual world champion and almost broke three world records at 15 years of age, and actually did hold three world records at 16, all without a suit. He did go faster, but he is hardly the first ever swimmer to go faster at age 17-21 than he did at 15-16.
In his autobiography, his honest opinion was… Read more »
This.
People who say Thorpe were dominant and broke WRs because of his suit clearly never followed the sports before 2007.
Thorpe broke 7 WRs in briefs, and in fact, Thorpe was the last swimmer to break WR in briefs.
Thorpe already swam 1:45 high and 3:41 high at the age of 16-17 in BRIEFS, and people are saying that he was swimming 1:44 and 3:40 at his physical peak (age 21-22) because of adidas body suit??
This makes as much sense as someone saying that Phelps could have never broken WR in briefs.
What a shame about his shoulder, would have been fun to watch him competing with the elites again.