I am shocked and saddened!
From USA Today:
Thorpe, 24, held a news conference Tuesday to announce his decision at a downtown Sydney hotel.
Thorpe said he came to the decision at "2:53 on Saturday afternoon" not to swim at next year's world championships in Melbourne and to finish his professional swimming career.
Plagued by illness, injury and a lack of motivation, Thorpe hasn't competed in a major international event since the Athens Olympics.
Thorpe burst onto the swimming scene as a teenager and swam to 13 world records between 1990-2002, becoming an international star after dominating the pool at the Sydney Olympics.
Thorpe and American Michael Phelps are acknowledged as the world stars of the sport.
The Australian swimmer, nicknamed "Thorpedo," won the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events at the Athens Olympics.
He planned a year-long break after Athens, claiming "mental fatigue" and hoping to stay fresh for major competitions down the road.
He later decided not to compete at last year's world championships in Montreal, then dropped out of the Commonwealth Games in March due to a bout of glandular fever.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
www.usatoday.com/.../2006-11-20-thorpe-retires-update_x.htm
There are guys named Hackett and van den Hoogenband who would vehemently disagree with you.
Kirk:
Agreed. I don't think Michael Phelps will swim the 400 Free again in major international competition meets like the World Championships or Olympics. If you remember back at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal he attempeted to challenge Hackett and the others in this event. Because the 400 IM is scheduled on the same day/session, he had to skip one of his best events. I saw the last half of this race on a video clip from CBC Broadcast of the meet. He got 7th in his heat and did not break 3:50.00. He was 18th overall from this prelim swim. This was the first time in 5 years that he missed a final in any event he ever swam. They did not have consolation heats for this event but if they had he would not have made those either. This was considered just a bad swim and showed inexperience in the event in international competition. Michael came back a couple of days later and bounced back like the champion he is with a best time in the 200 Meter Free at 1:45.20, which is almost the identical time that PVHoogenband did in 2004 in Athens when he recorded a time of 1:45.23. So with that there is no shoo in there.
I saw Michael Phelps swim the 400 Free last spring against Peter Vanderkaay and he was ahead at the 250 and at the 300 Vanderkaay went by him and beat him by at least 2 seconds. This was at one of those Classic series meets they have and I believe this was the first one held in Ann Arbor. Even though Phelps as been unbeaten in the LCM 400 IM, he has not had the fastest time in the last 2 years in this event in the FINA World rankings and that distinction belongs to Lazlo Cseh of Hungary. With the competion from Cseh and Ryan Lochette swimming better in this event, I cannot see him attemping a double 400 Free and 400 IM.
With Ian Thorpe retired, Grant Hackett moves to the favorite postion in the 400 Meter Free judging from his performances from the 2003 World Championships, 2004 Olympic Games, and the 2005 World Championships.
There are guys named Hackett and van den Hoogenband who would vehemently disagree with you.
Kirk:
Agreed. I don't think Michael Phelps will swim the 400 Free again in major international competition meets like the World Championships or Olympics. If you remember back at the 2005 World Championships in Montreal he attempeted to challenge Hackett and the others in this event. Because the 400 IM is scheduled on the same day/session, he had to skip one of his best events. I saw the last half of this race on a video clip from CBC Broadcast of the meet. He got 7th in his heat and did not break 3:50.00. He was 18th overall from this prelim swim. This was the first time in 5 years that he missed a final in any event he ever swam. They did not have consolation heats for this event but if they had he would not have made those either. This was considered just a bad swim and showed inexperience in the event in international competition. Michael came back a couple of days later and bounced back like the champion he is with a best time in the 200 Meter Free at 1:45.20, which is almost the identical time that PVHoogenband did in 2004 in Athens when he recorded a time of 1:45.23. So with that there is no shoo in there.
I saw Michael Phelps swim the 400 Free last spring against Peter Vanderkaay and he was ahead at the 250 and at the 300 Vanderkaay went by him and beat him by at least 2 seconds. This was at one of those Classic series meets they have and I believe this was the first one held in Ann Arbor. Even though Phelps as been unbeaten in the LCM 400 IM, he has not had the fastest time in the last 2 years in this event in the FINA World rankings and that distinction belongs to Lazlo Cseh of Hungary. With the competion from Cseh and Ryan Lochette swimming better in this event, I cannot see him attemping a double 400 Free and 400 IM.
With Ian Thorpe retired, Grant Hackett moves to the favorite postion in the 400 Meter Free judging from his performances from the 2003 World Championships, 2004 Olympic Games, and the 2005 World Championships.
