|
IanThorpeSydney, Australia
| |
|
|
IanThorpeSydney, Australia
| |
|
|
| Beginnings: | - Was born October 13, 1982, in Sydney-New South Wales (Australia). |
| Family: | - His mother Margaret is a teacher - His father Kenis is a gardener - His sister Christina is also a swimmer |
| Education: | - Attended East Hills Boys Technical High - He has since dropped out to concentrate on his swimming - He finished year 10 in 1999. |
| Sport(s): | - Swimming, freestyle 200m - Men's 400m freestyle, etc. |
| Interests: | - He likes to swim a lot - He likes water skiing, movies, cooking, playing golf with his dad, and relaxing at home. |
| Accomplishments: | - 1st 400m Freestyle-3:41.83
- 1st 200m Freestyle- 1:46.00 - 1st 4x 200m freestyle relay - 4th 100m freestyle relay- 49.74s - 1st 200m freestyle 1:45.51 - 1st 400m freestyle 3:41.33 - He won three gold medals in the Sydney 2,000 Olympics - Two silver medals in Sydney 2000 Olympics |
| Interesting Facts: | He was, and is still, nicknamed the Thorpedoe for his last name and his speed. Another interesting fact is that he won at least one medal from every swimming event and was the first to do it! |
|
|
To learn more about Ian Thorpe, click here. |
What I think is an interesting fact in the history of swimming is that in the first modern Olympics, in 1896, the 1,200-meter freestyle race took place in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea! The swimmers got taken out by a boat and the first one to get back to the shore won. Swimming events have come a long way since then. For example, they now take place in a swimming pool and not in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
Some rules are: men and women compete in 16 events,
using four different swimming strokes and swimming between one and thirty
laps. The four different swimming strokes are: freestyle, breast-stroke,
backstroke, and butterfly. In some special events called "medleys",
you must use every every type of the four strokes. No more than eight
swimmers may compete in a single race. The winners are based on time.
The swimmer that finishes the race in the shortest time wins the race.
To make sure that the swimmers swim faster, they shave their heads bald to
keep the hair out of their faces.
|
|
To learn more about swimming, click here. |
Ian Thorpe represented Australia in the Sydney Olympics. He now lives in Sydney, Australia. There are approximately 18,300,000 people in Australia. There are 3,300 square miles in Australia. The climate can be very hot in the summer and cool in the winter. Australia is in the southern hemisphere. The 2000 Sydney Olympics were in Australia.
|
|
To see a flag of Australia, click here. |
