Ian Thorpe was the second biggest star of the Sydney Olympics, and he’s fast becoming one the biggest of the Tokyo Games.
Who among us casual, once-every-major-meet, swim fans doesn’t pine for the elite analysis he’s providing on Channel Seven’s swimming-heavy coverage of the Olympics in their favourite week-in-week-out code?
As an athlete there was a lot of expectation on Thorpe’s young shoulders and he delivered time and again. Now, at 38, and 21 years after his first Olympic gold medal swim, he has the nation in his thrall once more.
Each session has thrown new light on his talents, be it predicting times and winners with freakish accuracy, to describing techincal minutiae in ways that make swimming fascinating to those of us who thought we were just here to enjoy a bit of mindless Aussie gold.
On Thursday, the Channel Seven socials shared an almost 10 minute ‘clip’ of Thorpey deconstructing Ariare Titmus’s state of mind and body which became a remarkable segment that took the viewers through the final 15 metres of Caeleb Dressel’s 100m freestyle victory over Kyle Chalmers.
Who watches a 10 minute clip of anything on the internet? When it’s Thorpey talking about my eighth favourite sport, apparently I do.
Thorpe pinpoints exactly why it was Dressel who gained a .06 second advantage for gold, focussing on a short stretch where the American puts his head down and fangs it, forgoing a breath, to stave off the faster-finishing Australian.
Thorpe’s analysis is bright and colourful but intellectual too. And the segment shows off his versatility.
When asked by host Hamish McLachlan what it is like, being there, metres away from an Olympic gold, gasping for breath, Thorpe’s response stops you cold.
“At this point, when you take a breath, it feels like razor blades are cutting through your lungs.”
His summary of those last decisive metres, the stroke patterns and power shifts, helps you understand how it was won and lost, and elevates an already exciting race to something more momentus, surely the aim of every ananlyst on every sport, everywhere.
Thorpe was great too, on the peculiar experience that Titmus is currently going through.
Having won her first, and quickly after, a second Olympic gold medal, Titmus seemed angry with herself early Thursday when the 4x200m relay team she led off finished with bronze. Titmus clearly felt she had let her team down, even though the first three teams went under the previous world record.
Titmus was back in the pool for the night session and qualified for the 800 metres final, but made her state of mind and body clear.
“I’m absolutely buggered,” she said. “Honestly I’m exhausted. I keep thinking back to Beijing, it was the same as this morning’s heats. Michael Phelps won eight golds. I have done two and I’m wrecked.
“It puts into perspective for me how amazing he was.”
Again, Thorpe was superb in detailing exactly what Titmus was living through right now, having accomplished everything she had dream of early in the meet and now having to fight on through muscle soreness and mental exhaustion too.
“There’s a toll that comes with that,” says Thorpe. “We call her the Terminator but we also see another side to her.
“How drained she must be from the wins, the success, the highs that you get from that. And trying to bring yourself back down to where you can race at your best is a difficult thing to do.”
But of course there’s layers to it, which Thorpe shows us as well in a discussion of what the size of the bubbles under Titmus’s hands during the race tell us about her levels of fatigue and lapses of technique.
And there is a clearly an appetite for this. Ian Thorpe is still a popular champion.
sheek
Roar Guru
vonManstein, The horror, oh the horror. You can imagine my horror when I realised I had written salmon & not slalom! However, I have a sneaking suspicion that the dastardly auto spellcheck was responsible for the misspell.
jameswm
Roar Guru
The 7+ commentators on athletics are specialists in that sport. Bruce is good for an Aussie athletics commentator, but not compared to those guys. Jane Flemming is one, I think the Brit is Tim Hutchings, not sure who the American is (I heard them say John).
Reg Grndy
Guest
Thorpe along with Speed have been a highlight for me. Imagine if Taylor and Brayshaw was doing Olympic coverage for 7. Why do Aussie commentators want to sound like Yanks with defence, it is really grating when watching the basketball. Its now creeping into AFL and NRL commentary. I've hated the tennis coverage with the Aussie bloke and English chick, they didn't add anything of value or substance to yesterdays mixed doubles semi final. I was yelling at the TV for them to shut the f up! I quite like Bruce with Athletics, he does his homework beforehand.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
I do love his passion despite my rant Small doses are fine. Will have to watch more on 7+
jameswm
Roar Guru
The 7+ commentators on athletics are better anyway. But I grew up listening to Bruce's passion on athletics.
Tony Harper
Editor
I've been really impressed with Morgan Turinui's punditry in the French Tests.
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
I can't handle him raving on about how Fred Blogs was raised by a wolf pack for the first 5 years of his life before being adopted by bears who nurtured his interest in running and has spent the last two years battling a sore little toe but had bravely kept going........
jameswm
Roar Guru
Oh come on. Bruce is the voice of athletics and so passionate and knowledgeable - at a factual not technical level.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Agreed Sheek, it’s already intense enough to watch
jameswm
Roar Guru
Nah I think his calmness is another defining (and positive) feature of the commentary.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Agreed. Less cheerleading, more analysis.
vonManstein
Roar Rookie
You’re right sheek.. I don’t want an Eastlake type commentator. Didn’t suggest that at all. Thankfully Culbert provided some sort of animation worthy of the event and the accomplishment. But I don’t mind at all that you enjoy watching and listening to your sport in a serene manner. Good for you. And it was C1 slalom, not a salmon race.
Josso
Guest
Try watching some rugba league Sheek. Full of overly enthusiastic and positive commentary about how good a game between 14 and 15 is. I'm a sports fan, but I really detest this type of commentary, which seems to be creeping into all Australian sports. Broadcasters seem to think this is the only way to protect their investment. Thorpe has been insightful and he calls it as it is, even with a tinge of gold in his glasses, but his analysis post race is top notch.
nics
Roar Rookie
Agreed. Especially if they only decide to show showcourt 1 for the badminton and you want to watch court 3. The BBC's coverage of 2016 was the high point - any court, any time on replay. Optus was excellent too.
Yawhoa
Roar Rookie
Yes they both have been exceptional, considering they don’t get much opportunity to commentate, I like how Basil Z sometimes gets ahead of himself by saying such n such swimming is falling behind then Thorpy will say that ‘I see the the swimming is conserving energy, for the final lap push’, and boom the swimmer comes home to win.
sheek
Roar Guru
vonManstein, I disagree. I think Richard Fox's commentary is absolutely appropriate for salmon racing. You don't want a Darrell Eastlake type guy screaming at the top of his voice. That's the kind of commentary most of us abhor. I don't need a commentator going off his head to make me appreciate what I'm seeing for myself. And Jess is the elder sister.
Tony Harper
Editor
The inability to rewind is a pain too (especially when you're trying to get quotes!) . When you comapre with apps such as Optus Sport. Mini matches would be great too, but maybe there is just far too much content for them to handle that workload.
Phil
Roar Rookie
Thorpey is a natural in commentary as he was in the water. He lets the caller do his job uninterrupted and enhances the experience with his analysis. His delivery is calm and measured saying what needs to be said without going into superlative overload. I watch Rugby League on Fox and would like to suggest they get their "experts" to have a good listen to Thorpe. He's the best I've heard since Richie Benaud.
Dwanye
Roar Rookie
Hi JW. I think that it exactly, ‘no time’. I’m mostly a league and cricket viewer, but both commentary and analysis poor, they got to cut to ad or rush to news or next show. No respect for fans. I think have a event with dedicated time (cause it soo massive) makes a big difference. I dream of those two sports having ‘time’ given
GhostFacePilfer
Guest
His commentary has been excellent. True expert commentary makes watching the sport that much more enjoyable. Reminds me of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen in their heyday. I just wish the rugby codes would take note and hire someone as insightful as Thorpey