Here's a timeline of Ian Thorpe's career

• 1985 - Born born 13 October 1982 in Australia
• 1998 - Thorpe's first international appearance in his home country, at the 1998 World Championships in Perth
• 1999 Pan pacific championship -After winning 4 golds, he was named as the World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World, and by Swimming Australia as its Swimmer of the Year. In a wider arena, he was named Young Australian of the Year, ABC Sports Star of the Year,and Male Athlete of the Year at the Australian Sports Awards
• 2000 Olympics-With three gold and two silver medals, Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Olympic Games.
• 2001 World Aquatics Championships - This made Thorpe the only swimmer to have won six gold medals at a World Championships, and the first since Shaw in 1974 to win the 200–400–800 treble
• 2002 Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Championships - wins 6 golds and 1 silver at the common wealth and 5 golds and 1 silver at pan pacific.
• 2003 World Aquatics Championships - wins 3 golds, 1 silver,1 bronze naming him named as Australian Swimmer of the Year
• 2004 Summer Olympics -Winning 2 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze he capitalised in the final by coming from sixth at the 50 m mark to win bronze medal in a personal best of 48.56 s,making him the only person to medal in the 100–200–400 combination in Olympic history
• 2006 - Retired from swimming

Some inspirational quotes from Thorpe

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.


Sometimes we question things that we have done in our lives but how many times do we question what we haven't done in someone else's.

Ian Thorpe's Legacy

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates says Ian Thorpe's swimming legacy will last for 50 years as the country's most successful Olympian.