Ian Thorpe AM (b. 1982), champion swimmer, was fourteen when he made the Australian swimming team for the 1997 Pan Pacific Games. In 1999 he set world records for the 400 and 200 metres freestyle. He broke his own records for both events again in qualifying for the Sydney Olympics, in which he won three gold and two silver medals and set a further three world records. His haul for 2001 and 2002 included six world championship titles and six gold medals at the Manchester Commonwealth Games. In claiming the 400 metres freestyle world title in 2003, Thorpe became the first swimmer to win the same event at three consecutive world championships. At the 2004 Athens Olympics he won gold in the 400 metres and 200 metres freestyle. World Swimmer of the Year for 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002, Thorpe’s subsequent honours include two honorary doctorates and the Human Rights Medal, acknowledging his advocacy in Indigenous education, LGBTQI+ rights and mental health.
Perth-based photographer Brett Canét-Gibson has produced photo and written essays for national and international publications and has been a National Photographic Portrait Prize finalist multiple times. He took this shot at the World Championships in Perth in 1998, when the fifteen-year-old Thorpe emerged from the 400 metres freestyle final as swimming's youngest ever men's world champion.
Purchased 2019
© Brett Canét-Gibson
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