Of course you have heard the big news of the week. The return of television host, designer and occasional swimmer Ian Thorpe to sporting competition this week concluded earlier than the former champion would have hoped.
Thorpe’s public, sponsor-driven comeback announcement last year was a bold move for an ageing sportsman who had been retired for several years.
In his time off, he had shifted from a Young Australian of the Year, who was the sporting hero of a nation, into general everyday semi-irrelevance.
To some, he is now nothing more than opportunistic B-grade celebrity – something which the circumstances of his comeback announcement certainly did nothing to discredit.
But Ian Thorpe had a dream, a plan and a tangible target to work towards and his history meant that the Australian sporting fans, media and even those who would otherwise be uninterested in sport would definitely be along for the ride.
For a while it seemed Thorpe’s return would be a spectacular failure even before it really set into motion, with him having to defend his poor times and strange training decisions as being all part of the process and necessary steps.
As the story goes, he improved but not enough and was unable to force his way into the London Olympics squad for either the 100 or 200 metre freestyle events.
Cue big headlines reading ‘Thorpe’s comeback ends in failure’ or similar variants, despite his vow to continue swimming at least for the time being.
Now the description of one of Australia’s greatest Olympians has been pounded into something that would hardly conceivable in the early years of the last decade.
Failure is a term that is heavily used to describe the new Thorpe – the man himself employed the word – but while it is effectively correct, it is not a term that sits well.
No, he was not able to live up to the ambition that he had worked and planned to achieve, but considering the might of the task, that bump should not mean everything to all judges.
It takes a lot of courage to expose oneself to public scrutiny. From the junior levels of all sports, willingness to participate with a big heart and gleaming smile is the virtue that is most encouraged.
But when it comes to the big time, is that simply drive to ‘have a go’ something that is no longer a value to be proud of?
Thorpe’s past successes surely would grant him freedom in doing whatever he likes with the rest of his swimming career, be it acclaimed or unexciting.
Maybe Thorpe simply did not what to wither into irrelevance, maybe he is thrives on media attention. He is probably not lying though, when he talks of his desire to swim big again; that’s something that’s not easily lost.
For the unambitious and the untalented to then sit back and suggest that this champion should have resisted his drive for the good of order and his own reputation (which is his own, I might add) it does nothing but give a broad hint of a lack of consideration and comprehension of the bigger picture.
Thorpe may not have a ticket to London, but at least he has provided a terrific example of sticking to one’s guns and riding out their plans even when all momentum and commentary is against them. C
ompetitiveness and results may always attract the keenest focus in sport, but participation, as Thorpe showed, will remain at the heart.
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