Swimming · 2000 · Sydney, Australia
The Thorpedo at Home
Australia's 17-year-old swimming prodigy wins the host nation's first gold of the Sydney Olympics, breaking his own world record on his Olympic debut.
3:40.59 (world record)
400m freestyle time
3
Golds, Sydney 2000
17
Age
Ian Thorpe, the 'Thorpedo', named for his outsized feet and the power of his freestyle, was already a world champion and world record holder going into a home Olympics at just 17, carrying a weight of national expectation few teenage athletes have had placed on them.
He answered it immediately, taking the 400m freestyle on the opening night of swimming in a new world record of 3:40.59, the host nation's first gold medal of the Games. A second followed when he anchored Australia's 4x100m freestyle relay to a dramatic upset over the heavily favoured United States team, and a third came in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
He was the breakout star of the Sydney Games and one of the most recognised athletes in Australia for years afterward. A host nation had asked for exactly this from its biggest swimming talent, and got it in the first week.
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