Ian Thorpe was just 14-years-old when he was selected to swim for Australia.
He was the youngest man ever to be included in one of our national sporting teams and in the four years that followed schoolboy Thorpe achieved phenomenal success on the world stage.
By the year 2000, he was 18-years-old and went into the Sydney Olympics under intense and highly visible public pressure to win. And win big.
The Daily Telegraph ran a photo of Thorpe on their front page, with a banner headline screaming INVINCIBLE below it. News reports called him Australia’s great hope for a substantial medal haul. Our sports-loving community was desperate to see Aussie athletes succeed at an Olympics on home turf.
And succeed he did; winning three gold medals and two silver in Sydney.
Like the rest of Australia, I watched Thorpe on TV back in 2000; giving poolside interviews after his races. I remember thinking he handled the media so incredibly well. Cool, calm, collected and softly spoken. Just the right mix of confidence and excitement without sounding up himself.
It wasn’t until I was older that I realised this was no accident.
Outstanding swimming talent and conversational eloquence aren’t necessarily a natural match. Thorpe, and his teammates, had been trained very well to perform in front of the press. No matter how shy, retiring or introverted these champions were naturally – significant effort and preparation went into ensuring they could put on an affable and confident show for the media.