Ian Thorpe - The Rise of an Olympic Legend 🇦🇺🥇

The Olympic pool has been home to some of the most iconic moments, not just in swimming, but in sports in general. Sydney 2000 was no exception. A 15-year-old Michael Phelps made his Olympic debut, finishing just outside the podium in the 200m butterfly. Equatorial Guinness Eric Musambani captured the world's hearts with his courageous performance in the opening heats of the 100m freestyle. Dara Torres won bronze in the women's 50m sprint in her first of two Olympic comebacks during a storied career. But perhaps the most iconic performance came on the very first day of swimming competition. When Sydney 2000 kicked off in September, Australia's Ian Thorpe was just a month shy of his 18th birthday. Still, he was already a multi-world champion and no stranger to the international podium. He took his first world title in the 400m freestyle at the 1998 World Championships in Perth. Becoming the youngest ever champion at 15 years and three months old. In the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, there was an agreed consensus that Thorpe was in a position to dominate the middle distances and even give Australia an advantage in the relays. He cruised through the morning heats of the 400m freestyle, setting a new Olympic record and swimming a full second faster than the second-place qualifier Massimiliano Rossellino of Italy. In the evening final, the capacity crowd at the Sydney Aquatics Centre was able to keep itself at bay until the 400m final. When Thorpe was introduced, the home crowd erupted. They knew that Ian Thorpe wasn't just going to win this race, he was going to dominate it. And that's exactly what he did. Thorpe took his maiden Olympic title in the world record time of 3 minutes 40.59 seconds, nearly three seconds faster than silver medalist Rossellino. Not only did Thorpe win gold as a teenager and do so in world record fashion, he did it with thousands of home fans cheering his name. And yet when Thorpe took off his goggles and looked at the results, he remained calm and composed, only offering a small celebration and smile before shaking the hands of his competitors. It wasn't because Thorpe was disappointed, not at all. To win an Olympic gold medal was a dream come true for the Thorpedo as he was so aptly referred to. But as he put it, there was another race Australia needed to win that day. Thorpe probably had time for a quick warm down before needing to get himself ready for another challenge, this time in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay. Thorpe dominated the 400m race, but the relay was going to be a different story. It was going to be a shootout between the Australian and American quartets, with the Americans the reigning Olympic champions from Atlanta 1996. The Americans, led by sprinting maestro Gary Hall Jr, had also edged out the Australians by less than 3 tenths of a second at the 1998 Perth World Championships. They owned the world and Olympic records, meaning if Australia was going to deliver the upset for the home crowd, it would take absolutely everything they had. Leading off the relay, Australia's Michael Klim set the tone. Swimming against Anthony Irvine, Klim went out flying and shaved 0.3 of a second off the individual 100m freestyle world record, clocking in at 48.18 seconds. The spectators, already on their feet, roared for Klim's blistering split and pushed Chris Fiddler to hold off USA's Neil Walker in the second leg. Jason Lezak, who would be responsible for the heroic final leg that won Team USA gold eight years later in Beijing, closed the gap with the Australians on the third leg and touched us in arm's length behind Ashley Collis. The anchor leg was going to be a showdown between Ian Thorpe and Gary Hall Jr. Thorpe had Hall beat on the underwater, but the American had unmatched sprinting speed and quickly took the lead away from the Australians on the first lap. Hall's straight-line speed seemed almost too much to overcome. How could Thorpe still have the endurance to catch up, having already swum an eight-lap race earlier in the night? Into the last 15m, Thorpe caught Hall more and more with every stroke, almost looking like he was gaining momentum and speed, whilst Hall tightened up. Thorpe took the lead with barely 10m to spare. As he touched the wall, there was an explosion of noise from the thousands of Australians in the pool, echoed by millions watching across the whole country. Australia had beaten the odds and added to it. They even took the world record away from the Americans. The new time of 3 minutes, 13.67 seconds was almost a second and a half faster. Now Thorpe let himself celebrate. It was mission accomplished, ending his first day as an Olympic swimmer with two gold medals and two world records. He closed out the rest of Sydney 2000 with another gold and world record combo in the 4x200m freestyle, this time beating Team USA by over five seconds. He also took home silver in the 4x100m medley relay and the 200m freestyle, the latter seeing himself on the receiving end of an upset from Dutchman Pieter van der Hoevenband. He took his revenge four years later at Athens 2004, claiming that coveted 200m title with an Olympic record and giving us an iconic podium that saw van der Hoevenband take silver and none other than Michael Phelps take a rare bronze. He kept his Olympic title in the 400m freestyle with ease and took home a silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay, as well as bronze in the 100m freestyle. And while he stepped away from swimming after Athens 2004, Thorpe remains one of the most famous names in the sport. Bob Bowman, the former coach of Michael Phelps, even referred to Thorpe as the greatest middle distance and relay swimmer of all time. He's also been an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ plus rights in Australia and across the world, cementing himself as a sporting and social icon. And even though it's been a quarter of a century since that fateful night in Sydney, Thorpe's performance will forever be etched into the annals of Olympic history.