His silver Armani sunglasses don’t just reflect the glare of the sun. The designer shades are like a superhero’s mask to the swimmer called ”Thorpedo”, helping to conceal his identity in public.
Ian Thorpe will be one of the highest-profile Athens Olympians and his ”who rules the pool?” duel with American teen Michael Phelps could evolve into one of the highlights of the Games, even if they only go head-to-head once.
Thorpe has set 13 world records and won 11 world championships since he emerged on the international scene at 15.
Out of the water, his latest-trend haircuts, clothes and accessories are part of Thorpe’s carefully cultivated look. It is hard for him to go unnoticed.
Thorpe is Australia’s best prospect for multiple gold medals in Athens. He is swimming the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle races — a rare triple — as well as three relays.
With swimming a national obsession in Australia, expectations are high for the Olympics.
”I have no issue with people having expectations on me,” Thorpe said during a training session at an outdoor pool. ”I look at those expectations as being support rather than being pressure.”
American swimming great Janet Evans has described Thorpe as Australia’s equivalent to Michael Jordan.
”It’s a flattering comment, whether it’s accurate or inaccurate,” Thorpe said. ”I’ve grown up with those kind of tags attached and you just have to accept it … live with it and get through it.”
It is not the first time he has been rated against Jordan. The hype surrounding his Olympic debut in Sydney in 2000, when he was 17, was compared with Jordan’s arrival at the 1992 Olympics with the original Dream Team.
Thorpe improved his world record to win the 400m and led the Australian 400m freestyle relay to a win — also in world record time — on the first night of swimming at the Sydney Olympics.
His upset loss to Pieter van den Hoogenband in the 200m shocked most locals, who thought Thorpe was invincible.
To regain his reputation for being unbeatable, Thorpe decided against chasing Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at one Olympics.
While Phelps was swimming 11 events at the United States Olympic trials in a bid to beat Spitz’s 32-year-old record, Thorpe said he was working on his strengths.
The clear-cut favorite in the 200m and 400m, he said he wants to peak for the 100m, where speed is paramount.
He was third behind Alexander Popov and Van den Hoogenband in the 100m at the 2003 world championships. He won the 200m and 400m and picked up medals in two relays.
”I was never going for seven gold medals. It doesn’t excite me trying to win medals or break world records — it never has,” he said. ”I place far more importance on swimming the 100m freestyle and swimming it well, than trying to spread myself across a few events.”
Despite being the Olympic and world champion and holder of the world record in the 400m freestyle, Thorpe considers himself lucky to be swimming his best race at Athens.
Thorpe, who has not lost a 400m since winning the world title in 1998, flopped into the water during the qualifying heats at the Australian trials in March.
He was disqualified for a false start. A month later, Craig Stevens, who qualified second-fastest in the race but was a long shot for a medal, stepped aside to allow Thorpe to compete at Athens in the 400m.
There were suggestions that Stevens was pressured to withdraw, a claim that both Stevens and Thorpe have denied.
Australia’s head swimming coach, Leigh Nugent, said Thorpe’s aim of producing personal best rather than world-best times is the secret to his success.
”That’s one way of him not succumbing to external factors,” Nugent said. ”As far as pressure goes, if he does feel it, he’s dealt with it well in the past and we see no reason he won’t deal well with it now.”
And Thorpe does not expect the pressure on him will decrease just because the Olympics has moved to Greece.
”There’ll be just as much focus on me in Athens as what there was in Sydney,” he said. ”I think the pressure will be virtually the same.”
Thorpe’s anticipated meeting with Phelps — the world’s other top male swimmer — could come in the 200m freestyle, or it might not.
Phelps has not finalised his Athens programme.
”I’m pleased with how my sprinting is coming along. I hope my 400m comes along well at the same time, and I hope I have a good 200,” he said. ”There’s a lot of hope and wishes in there, but I think I’ve done the training that should allow me to do that.” — Sapa-AP