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Ian Thorpe Biography 2021: Age, Career, Net Worth

Pravesh Pokhrael

Who is Ian Thorpe?

Ian Thorpe (born October 13, 1982) is a popular previous swimmer who was famous for his freestyle, backstroke, and also individual medley. Thorpe is regarded as one of the legends of swimming sports as he has won over 5 Olympic medals and 2 silver medals. He started swimming and representing his nation at just 14 and then dominated the sports for 10 years. However, due to consistent injuries affected his confidence and quality so he retired from swimming when he was just 24 years old. His immense performance when he was just a young boy made him one of the rising stars for Australia and he was rewarded with Young Australian of the Year in 2000. He is still popular in social media and has over 500,000 social media followers worldwide.

Biography

Ian Thorpe was born in Sydney, Australia. He was born in a sporting family and was raised in Milperra surrounding. He was born to Ken Thorpe who was a rising cricketer in Australia who performed very well in first-class cricket but never represented them on an international level. Similarly, Ian’s mother’s name was Margaret who was a sportsperson as well as was an amazing netball player in her own regard. However, Ian Thorpe did not follow the footsteps of his parents but instead followed his sister as his sister Karen was a swimmer. Incidentally, Karen broke her wrist and was practicing in the swimming pool when Ian started going after his sister and enjoyed swimming in the pool.

Despite enjoying swimming initially Ian was not able to swim much as he was allergic to chlorine. He missed tons of swimming competitions but finally participated in his first swimming tournament when he was seven years old. Ian started swimming with his head out of water due to the allergy but he eventually won the competition. Regarding education, Ian Thorpe joined a local Australian school and then later East Hills Boys Technology High School. During school time he started learning different freestyle techniques of swimming.

Career

Ian Thorpe started to work on his allergy and eventually got over it. When he was just in primary school he became the captain of the New South Wales swim team. He was still following the step of his sister as he cheered her performance in Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Ian’s coach Doug also send him to Atlanta Olympics to participate in the national events but he was not qualified due to allergy. However, he was qualified a year later for Pan Pacific Championship in Japan.

During the preparation for the championship, he was sidelined with an appendix injury for 2 months which completely dismantled his practice and preparation. Ian did not win any competition but eventually got qualified for the 4/200 meter relay and eventually also won a silver medal which made him the youngest swimmer to win the silver medal. Again he became second in 400 meters only getting defeated by Grant Hackett which saw him win another second silver medal in Atalanta Games.

Ian Thrope participated in the FINA tournament in January and became the first Australian to win gold since 1956. The same year in 1998 Thorpe participate in World Championships and won four gold medals to become one of the best swimmers and the best sportsperson from Australia. He was then sponsored by Speedo from Adidas however they were surrounded by controversy. In the same tournament, Ian Thorpe won gold in the 400-meter relay race. He was MVP of the tournament as Australia won the gold medal in world record minutes.

In the 2001 World Championship, he again won in the 400-meter relay and even participated in an 800-meter race. The highlight of the tournament was his rivalry with Dutch legend VanderHoogenband. Thorpe defeated Hoogenland to recapture his gold medal and his hand was raised by the rival himself which showed immense respect between the two of them. Thorpe also broke four world records in the event. During the 9/11 event, Thorpe was planning to visit the WTC but his plan was canceled at the final hours. He stated the 9/11 event motivated Thorpe even more. Thorpe continued his impressive form in 2003 FINA with three gold medals. Adding to that he won a silver medal and also a bronze medal to the list. During the time a young swimmer named Michael Phelps was gaining attention and was breaking record after record.

Ian Thorpe’s final tournament was the Olympics in 2004 where he competed against Vander Hoogenland and Michael Phelps where he defeated both of them in the 200-meter race. Phelps retired with 9 Olympics medals with 6 gold medals.

Relationship

Ian Thorpe was a gay man and revealed his sexual orientation in 2014 after battling and avoiding discrimination from even early stages of his career. Ian dated famous Australian model Ryan Channing. The couple first met in 2015 and started dating in 2016. However, their relationship only lasted for 3 years and the couple publicly broke up in 2019. Despite the breakup, they continue to remain friends with each other.

Net Worth

Ian Thorpe is the legendary swimmer and sports personality from Australia. He became the youngest Australian to win Australian of the year. During his playing days, he was sponsored by Adidas and Speedo. Not only that he has several brands, sponsorship, etc.

Currently, Ian Thorpe has a net worth of $2 million as of 2021.

Trivia