Wow, don't you just love the water behind this? Makes it all seem so nice and cozy. Well, to me it does, I'm glad I got something to work for once on this site since I started it. Well anyway. I've wanted to go to Australia ever since I was six, at first it was the animals, then the sites, and now this man, Ian Thorpe. And I know my friends are asking "Lauren, (Or Loopy Lauren as they so lovingly call me *grr*) why Ian Thorpe? For one he is half way around the world in Australia, two, he is very famous, so you probably don't have a very good shot, and, he is two years older then you." Well, the first thing I'm going to say to that is how dare you, and the second thing, HOW DARE YOU! :) But hey, I think this needs a little explanation, so why not. It's not like I have anything better to do with my life, so lets all gather around the computer, because it's story time!
There's no doubt that Ian Thorpe is a good swimmer. (And if anyone says there is they deserve a sock in the lip) But how did he become the champion he is today? Well, I'll be happy to tell you the story from what I have read, reworded by me, Lauren, to make it funnier and to not copy anyone else's work. Oh, if you don't want to read this (jerk) then skim down the page until you get to the little chart with facts, since you don't want to read art!
When Ian was eight, he was tired of watching his older sister Christina at her swim practices and meets. So, he decided to start himself. At first though, it wasn't that easy, seeing as Ian was diagnosed with being allergic to chlorine. But that didn't stop him! He wore a nose clip and swam with his head out of the water. Eventually the allergy went away and he won his first competition a year later at nine. This was only the beginning.
One of Ian's first of many medals. Even when he was little he knew he was too hot for pants.
Ian became the youngest male swimmer to win being selected to the Australian national squad when he was named to the Pan Pacific Championship Team in 1997 after he placed 3rd in the 400m freestyle at the National Open Championships in Adelaide. This amazes me, I mean, in 1997 I was in seventh grade complaining about how my ponytail hurt. Anyway, the next year Ian did even better when at the 1998 World Championships in Perth Australia, he became the youngest male world champion in history by winning the 400m freestyle. And in 1999 he set world records in the 200m and 400m events at the Pan Pacific Championships. Do you remember what you were doing when you were 14?
But let's back up. In 1996, Christina started dating a David Williams. Ian became friends with his younger brother Micheal. David felt guilty about leaving his little brother at home when he went out. So, they took him along, and he and Ian would sit in the back in the car laughing when Christina and David were all kissy kissy in the front. Michael was eleven and Ian fourteen. They were like normal friends, they watched movies together, played playstation. But Michael now had a friend who was constantly hounded by the press and would take international trips around the world. Micheal would watch Ian's meets, ever watching his wristwatch. Five months since the Pan Pacs went by though, and Ian's love of swimming was fading. He would come home after practice, drink a cup of tea and disappear into his bedroom. He felt his great gift was gone. He tried harder, but yet he still swam slower. And him being the mature level headed Ian, he didn't tell anyone. Then one day, the doctors told Michael that he had a two-inch-long tumor in his stomach and was rushed immediatly to the hospital for non-Hodgkins lymphoma. His kidneys were failing, and the cancer was already eating away at hi bone marrow, spine and brain. Ian would go visit Michael, but Michael wasn't conscious that first time. He saw Michael barely alive with the help of a ventilator and a dialysis machine. Ian was fifteen, of course he was scared by that. Who wouldn't be? Ian said he would go visit Micheal more after that, but he didn't. And who can blame him. But then one day, Ian ran away from a downtown trip to Sydney to visit one of his sponsors to go visit Michael. And Michael saw his friend Ian standing in the hospital beside him. He even smiled although his vision was clouded by morphine and he was nauseated by chemotherapy. Michael lost all of his hair, his eyelashes, his eyebrows, his face became rounder from steroids, and his feet turned black everytime he put on shoes. He told his mother that he wished to die. He didn't want to take anymore of the pain. Once Ian heard, he started calling and showing up more. He would bring videos for them to watch and new playstation games for them to play. And Micheal laughed everytime Ian jokingly called him Uncle Fester. And even though Ian hated it when people asked about his feet, he let Micheal compare to his everytime he visited. Ian felt like a freak because of his feet, but if it got Michael out of bed, he was more then happy. Micheael wanted to live again. And in return, Ian wanted to swim.
Ian would leave Michael's hospital room after a while and visiting other cancer children. He found himself at the pool every morning refreshed and filled with energy. "I came to realize what was wrong," Ian says,. "That my talent was a gift, and that I'd started questioning it, expecting too much of it. I'd almost gotten greedy, instead of being grateful for it. What I saw because of Michael was how precious life is, how important it is to love what you do, every day. It changed my life. It opened my eyes to the world. When I was feeling pain in workouts, I'd start thinking, 'This is nothing.' Michael's feeling much more. There are plenty of people feeling much more." Ian would use his connections to introduce Michael to famous sports players. Michael felt special. He was Ian's mate. Ian got a bonus of $16,000 for being the new Olympic pool's first world-record breaker. He donated it to children's cancer research and a youth crisis prevention program. At a fundraiser, he addresed the crowd with their $1,000 plates of food. "People often ask me what my inspiration is," he said into the microphone. "It's not something I can write down. But I can show you." Michael came out, and the crowd applauded for him, the boy who was standing there alive and free of cancer for a year.
Now if that didn't make you all teary eyed then I hope you burn in hell! That was heart breaking! So you ask me why I love Ian Thorpe so much? Because he isn't the normal celebrity you hear of everyday. Now don't get me wrong, he spends money on nice clothes and travels around the world, but he cares, and that's something you don't see very often. That's why I love him so much. I'm rooting for him in everything that he does, even when he is against the Americans. Sorry! But Gary Hall Jr. didn't have a little cancer kid now did he? Well, I also love Ian Thorpe because he is very hot and I am very shallow, but I am trying to learn to be better. So, of course, let's have some meaningless trivia and pics! Why the hell not? He deserves fans! If he ever does me the honor of visiting this site, then that would make my life. All right, lets get happy now, story time is over.
I'm not a stalker by the way. I did my research and found all this stuff out on the net. I even wrote it down in a notebook! But, it's still not very professional because I wrote it in magic marker. :)
| Home | Sydney, Australia (Do you know of another Sydney?) |
| D.O.B. | 10/13/82 (Write that down, we'll have a party.) |
| Event | 100m, 200m, and 400m freestyle |
| Swims At | Sutherland Leisure Centre, NSW |
| Likes | Waterskiing, movies, computer games, and grunge music |
| Nickname | Thorpedo or Thorpey |
| Fav Food | Caramel Space Food Sticks (What the hell is that?) |
| Fav Movies | The Long Kiss Goodnight and Billy Madison |
| Fav Band | The Offspring |
| Idols | Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Michael Jordan, and Kieren Perkins |