Grant Hackett has pulled down the curtain on one of Australia’s greatest swimming careers to a standing ovation. The national team captain announced his retirement at Swimming Australia’s swimmer of the year awards in Sydney tonight and it drew the entire crowd to their feet.
The normally composed Hackett was emotional as he told the audience of his decision.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” he said of the crowd’s response.
Hackett, 28, has spent the last two months weighing up his future after just missing out on a history-making third straight Olympic 1500m freestyle title in Beijing.
The Victorian-based athlete dominated the 1500m for more than a decade, winning four world titles and two Olympic titles before being pipped by Tunisian Oussama Mellouli at the Water Cube in August.
He has recently taken up a job reading the weekend sports news on the Nine Network in Melbourne and started towards a career in finance with long-time sponsor Westpac.
He told his teammates to enjoy their time in the sport as it came to an end so quickly.
“I have been doing this for a long time and just make the most of every opportunity because you will get to this point and it is now all just a memory for me,” he said.
Hackett said competing at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he pipped nemesis Kieren Perkins in the 1500m, and being part of the successful Australian team, had been his career highlights.
The grind of distance swimming has caught up with his aching body, he has had constant problems with his shoulders particularly since undergoing major surgery at the end of 2005.
The Gold Coast-raised swimmer has been an enormously popular figure in Australia, not just because of his sustained success in the sport but his humility out of the water.
He first rose to fame in Australia at the 1998 world championships in Perth as a 17-year-old where he was touched out in the 400m final by a 15-year-old Ian Thorpe.
They developed an intriguing rivalry and strong friendship that led Australia’s swim team to the nation’s best run of success since the golden days of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Thorpe almost always had Hackett’s measure over 200m and 400m but the lanky Queenslander’s success in the 1500m and ability to keep on challenging the Thorpedo won him many fans.
Hackett said he had spoken to Thorpe about making the transition to a post-swimming career.
He will be remembered fondly for managing to overcome health problems to win gold in Sydney in 2000 and Athens four years later in the 30-lap event.
Hackett finished with three Olympic gold medals, one as a 4x200m heat swimmer in 2000, but ended his career just below the likes of Thorpe and Dawn Fraser in terms of Australia’s greatest swimmers.
But he is in some distinguished company alongside the likes of his former foe Perkins, Shane Gould and Murray Rose.
Hackett continued Australia’s proud legacy in the 1500m and his world record of 14 minutes 34.56 seconds set in 2001 in Japan was mind blowing at the time.
It is only the advent of the new-age swim suits that has made it appear attainable over the coming years.
“Swimming has been fantastic but you have to know when you are done,” Hackett said.
He said he had made up his mind to quit last month and found it hard not telling people.
“There was a time where I thought winning that silver medal in Beijing I thought I would love to come back to the world championships (next year) and I knew I was swimming really well,” he said.
“It was the best swimming I had done in seven years, that did cross my mind and my wife said `I will support you 110 per cent if that is what you are going to do’.
“At one stage I even questioned London Olympics (in 2012).
“But that was a definite no no.
“The opportunities and other interests I wanted to pursue came up.
“I think after a while the passion to do this does get worn down a little bit and those other passions start to outweigh (them).”
Hackett singled out the 2005 Montreal world championships as the best meet of his career.
FACTBOX ON RETIRING SWIMMER GRANT HACKETT
DOB: May 9, 1980
Born: Gold Coast
Lives: Melbourne
Swims: Freestyle
Olympics: Three-time gold medallist (2000 and 2004 1500m freestyle and 2000 4x200m freestyle relay). Also won three other Olympic medals.
World Championships: Won 10 goal medals at five world championships (1998, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007), six silver medals and two bronze
Commonwealth Games: Won one gold medal and one silver at 1998 in Kuala Lumpur and three gold and two silver medals in Manchester in 2002
* Multiple 1500m and 800m world record holder
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