Frank Thomas

Thorpe Notable Sports Figures
Chronology
1982 Born October 13 in Milperra, New South Wales, Australia
1999 Breaks four world records at the Pan Pacific Championships in
Sydney in May; sets and breaks the world 200-meter freestyle
record at the same meet; records the fastest time ever in a lap
of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay
2000 Breaks his own world record in the 400-meter freestyle;
appears on Friends
2002 Hosts his own television show, Undercover Angels; replaces
coach Doug Frost with assistant coach Tracey Menzies
on a bi-weekly basis. Thorpe at that time was swimming
as much as thirty miles every week. He expanded his
training schedule once more, swimming as much as six
hours per day and up to sixty-two miles per week. In
those days he set a personal best of 4:10:66 in the 400meter
freestyle.
As Thorpe approached physical maturity, he developed
a long, lanky, thick-chested frame and large thighs.
This barrel-chested appearance—less broad in the
shoulders and dramatically less narrow at the hips-distinguished
him from his peers in men’s competitive
swimming. In time it became evident that his buoyant
physique and instinctive flair for the fluid mechanics of
the pool afforded him a competitive edge.
International Competition
Thorpe first attracted attention outside of the sports
world when at age fourteen he became the youngest
male ever to earn a spot on the Australian national
swimming team. In 1997 he won second place at the Pan
Pacific Games in Fukuoka, Japan, where he impressed
the media with his quiet reserve and well-spoken ways.
Thorpe’s athletic acumen improved as he matured.
Barreling through the water and traveling at 3.1 meters
per stroke, his talent was attributed in part to his expansive
reach. At 6-feet-5-inches tall and 215 pounds, he is
not only tall, but also sports unusually large feet, which
at size seventeen are seven sizes larger than the average
adult man. This disproportionate bigfootedness, according
to some critics, is his greatest asset as an athlete. His
long and flexible feet provide excellent propulsion in the
water and—to Thorpe’s dismay—are often compared to
flippers. His kick, a six-beat stroke, works like a small
propeller, which he synchronizes with his arms at a ratio
of six kicks to one upper body stroke. He swims like a
highly efficient machine. South African swimmer Ryk
Neethling compared the volatility of Thorpe’s wake to
the inside of a washing machine. Said Neethling, who
was quoted in Sydney’s Morning Herald, “It can be hell
out there behind him; it is so much more turbulent than
normal.”
With continued guidance from Frost and Don Talbot,
the Australian national coach, Thorpe swam to a world
championship in the men’s freestyle in 1998 at age fif-
1608
Related Biography: Coach Doug Frost
Doug Frost is the owner of the Padstow Indoor Club, which he operates
at his personal 25-meter indoor pool. He maintains a level three (highest)
accreditation with the Australian Coaching Council and also with the
Australian Swimming Federation (also level three).
In 1997 Frost joined the staff of Sutherland Aquatic Center outside of
Sydney. That year he was named also to the staff of the Australian national
team for the Pan Pacific Games. In 1998 he served on the national coaching
staff for the World Championship Games. Frost maintains memberships on
the board of the Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association.
A forward-thinking, technology-driven sports professional, Frost was
honored as the 1997 Australian Age Group Coach of the Year. In 2001 and
2002 he received back-to-back Coach of the Year honors.
It was at Padstow that Frost first had an opportunity to observe Thorpe
in 1990. For the next twelve years he worked with Thorpe, initiating the
swimmer into competition at age twelve. In 1996 Frost coached Thorpe to
nine gold medals at the junior nationals. In 2002, after three Olympic gold
medals and nearly a score of world records, Frost parted ways with Thorpe
in what Thorpe described as an amicable split.
teen. He was the youngest world champion in history of
that sport. The win generated public speculation about
his Olympic potential for the Sydney games in 2000.
Thorpe stunned the world at the Pan Pacific Games
in May 1999 in his native Sydney when at age sixteen
he broke the world record in the 400-meter freestyle.
Thorpe, with a time of 3:41:83, shaved very close to
three full seconds from the old record. In the 200-meter
freestyle that year he logged a world record time of
1:46:34 , which he personally bested at the same competition,
to leave the world record at 1:46:00 by the end of
the meet. In all, Thorpe set four world records in four
days, including the fastest lap on record in the 4x200
freestyle relay. The Australians left with a total of thirteen
gold medals and lauded Thorpe as their hero. “He
could be the greatest swimmer we’ve ever had,” Talbot
was quoted by Time. “I have never seen anything like
that,” said former Olympian Randy Gaines, and Thorpe
himself made no attempt to conceal his own amazement
at the results of the competition.
In setting a world record at the new Olympic stadium
at Sydney that year, Thorpe won a bonus prize of
$16,000 for being the first to break a record in the new
Olympic pool, which was built in preparation for the
2000 Olympics. Thorpe generously donated the money
to cancer research and to a youth crisis prevention program.
In part for his generosity, he was named Young
Australian of the Year for 1999.
Australians love swimmers, and Thorpe as a sports
prodigy attained near-superstar status, even before his
first Olympic appearance. By the end of 1999, negotiations
were underway for sponsorships and future endorsements.
Banks, airlines, car manufactures, and
others rushed to establish associations with Thorpe:
Qantas, Adidas, Mazda, Sydney Water, and Omega,
among others, joined his sponsorship team.