Sporting Chapters
Ian Thorpe talks about his Olympic successes in the pool and his book 'This Is Me' in the latest episode of Sporting Chapters
Last Updated: 02/12/12 6:58am
He's a five-time Olympic gold medallist and in the latest Sporting Chapters, Ian Thorpe talks about the story behind his glittering career.
After winning his first World title aged just 15 and went on to dominate the pool to such an extent that Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates stated that "In 50 years from now Australians will still marvel at the feats of Ian Thorpe".
But the success came at a cost - with questions raised about the legality of his performances, a personal battle with depression and doubts raised about his sexuality.
In his autobiography 'This is Me', Ian opens up and speaks about his life and career. He was just as frank in our interview, in which he discusses:
HIS EARLY SUCCESS - how he got into the sport and how he had to come to terms with the media hype surrounding him
DEPRESSION - He tells us about his battle as a teenager and how thoughts about taking his own life came into his mind
ACCUSATIONS OF DOPING - Ian talks about his struggle to convince people his impressive results were not the result of taking performance-related drugs
THE GLORY DAYS - what it felt to be the toast of swimming and how he managed to stay at the top of the sport for so long
MAKING A COMEBACK - he explains the reasons why he wanted to earn the right to swim at London 2012 and why it was the right thing to do
HIS FUTURE - why he remains focussed on getting back into swimming and what he still feels he can achieve in the sport
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