Ian Thorpe would have never created a splash at the Sydney Olympics had he followed his father Ken’s advice to take up cricket. Ken a promising junior cricketer, represented a district team in Sydney. He once topped the season’s batting averages ahead of former Australia captain Bob Simpson. But he had to give up cricket and wanted son Ian to cover the hard yards on the cricket field.
“My birthday is good for Australian cricket. My father planned it that way for age group cricket. I was told to use my left hand to bat as they wanted me to be a traditional cricketer. But as kid all you want is to hit sixes over the fence.
“I was OK with it and played cricket in high school. But I wasn’t passionate about it. As a kid I used to watch my father play and it wasn’t a good experience to watch while fielding. I didn’t love the game like the rest of the family,” said Thorpe who will be one of the elite panelists in the Star Sports for the Rio Olympics along with former ace shuttler Prakash Padukone, hockey Olympian Viren Rasquinha, former shooting champion Anjali Bhagwat and former swimming Olympian Rehan Poncha.
Out of his nine Olympic medals (5 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze), all five golds came at the Sydney Olympics. Thorpe was the young Australian of the year in 2000. In addition, he won 11 World Championship titles, 10 Commonwealth Games gold medals, nine Pan Pacific titles and broke no less than 22 world records. Truly an amazing career, and all achieved before his 22nd birthday!
Having retired suddenly 2006, Thorpe announced a comeback five years later in time for the London Olympics but he couldn’t qualify and a shoulder injury cut short his comeback.
“Motivation was never there. I didn’t fell a swimming career was mine anymore. I lost love and didn’t connect with the water anymore. The feeling persisted for a long time. When I returned I had got my love back for swimming and I tried to share the good messages about the sport.”
Thorpe acknowledged Michael Phelps’ longevity — eight golds at the Beijing Olympics. “It will be a fourth Olympics for Phelps. Results are varied but he is good enough to stay in the sport,” he said about the American star who has won 18 gold Olympic gold medals.
“Australia have the no. 1 swimmer in 100m freestyle in both the men’s and women’s sections. The Campbell sisters (Cate and Bronte) will be an interesting story to come out. In swimming we will be behind the USA but we can win somewhere between 4-6 gold medals,” he said.
