In June 2004, a photo of Ian Thorpe raising his water-clogged fist in victory was featured in a publically funded Federation Square art exhibit. Scribbled above his head in bold was the word “GAY”.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, the real Thorpe was putting the final touches on a lucrative promotional deal that would see a range of ‘Thorpedo’ sports drinks sold throughout Japan.
The Japanese public adored Thorpey. They revered him, as we all should have.
You see, as this twisted game of inverted respect was playing out, the world was still two months away from the Athens Olympics. But 21-year-old Thorpe was already Australia’s fourth best Olympic performer – ever. Never mind that he was soon to pick up another two golds, a silver and a bronze for a country that loved nothing more than to berate him for his every action.
Since the ripe old age of 14 (a time when most of us are busy buying Clearasil by the bucket and trying to make it through health class without having to say the word ‘flaccid’ out loud), Thorpe and his size 17 feet dominated international swimming.
At 15, he was not only a world record holder but a world champion. Aged 17 at the 1999 Pan Pacs he won all four of his events, breaking the world record in three of them. And at 18, with the weight of a home Olympics on his shoulders, he smashed the Americans like guitars in the 4x100m freestyle relay, after winning gold in the 400 metre individual event an hour earlier. An hour!
And despite the trying years that followed, through heavily critiqued coaching changes and fluke false-starts, Thorpe remained a steadfast example of professionalism and poise. A goggled legend beyond compare.
Off the pool deck, he is an equally creative and positive benefit to Australia.
In 2002 ‘Undercover Angels’ premiered on Channel Seven. The premise of the low-budget reality show was simple, if not a little bizarre: every week Thorpe would give his ‘Angels’ (Jackie O, Katie Underwood and Simone Kessell) a mission – usually to give a puppy to a child or complete a home renovation – and upon completion, everyone would cry and hug.
It was as bad as you might imagine, with Sydney Morning Herald TV critic Ruth Ritchie calling it “the worst show in the history of the world”. But Thorpe only gave a proverbial shrug, saying he was glad the show was focusing on positive stories, unlike the majority of other programming at the time.
In fact, since becoming the subject of the public gaze as a teen, Thorpe has been unapologetically himself. He’s a long-time ambassador for Armani, has developed his own underwear and jewellery line (featuring unisex pearl necklaces), and made a cameo on ‘Friends’, just because he wanted to.
A philanthropic heavy-hitter, Thorpe started his own charity, Fountain For Youth, in 2000, has been an ambassador for Close The Gap and The Fred Hollows Foundation, and was recently announced as host of ABC’s ‘The Bully Project’.
All this, and yet Thorpe is more likely to be immortalised on the cover of a tabloid than in bronze outside aquatic centres across the country.
Last month, photos of Thorpe declining “a white, pill-like object” ahead of Mardi Gras were splashed across international press sites. While the object turned out to be a breath mint, the incident proves that in 2016, speculating on Thorpe’s personal life, instead of celebrating his achievements, remains one of our favourite passtimes.
Perhaps it is because – unlike his most notable peers, Grant Hackett and American Michael Phelps – Thorpe has no black marks against his name. There are no drink-driving charges, no police filings of domestic disputes. Or maybe it is because Thorpe has refused to be a two-dimensional athlete, embracing life away from swimming in his own bold, stylised way.
Regardless, surely it’s time we not only celebrated Thorpe’s achievements, but respected him as well.
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