World and Olympic champion Ian Thorpe, arguably Australia's greatest ever swimmer, announced his retirement from competitive swimming at the age of 24 on Tuesday.
SYDNEY: World and Olympic champion Ian Thorpe, arguably Australia's greatest ever swimmer, announced his retirement from competitive swimming at the age of 24 on Tuesday.
Thorpe told a packed news conference broadcast live on Australian television that he had decided to quit because swimming was no longer the most important thing in his life.
Thorpe described his decision to quit as the toughest he had ever made, saying it would have been easier for him to keep swimming and compete in next year's world championships in Melbourne in March.
“It's emotional because I see my entire swimming career flashing before my eyes but at the same time I have this excitement about what I'm about to do,” Thorpe said.
“I don't think I should be retiring, I think I'm far too young to retire but it's a thing that we should be celebrating. I've had a great career,” he said.
“It isn't the best time for me to be walking away from the sport but it's my time, this is how it panned out.”
Thorpe is regarded as one of the greatest swimmers of all time after winning 11 world titles, five Olympic gold medals and setting 13 individual long-course world records.
Worn down by the constant grind of training, Thorpe took a year off after winning the 200 metres and 400m freestyle titles at the 2004 Athens Olympics but his comeback plans were thwarted by illness and waning motivation.
Thorpe appeared to waver when he was asked if he was completely ruling out the chance of a return to the sport in time for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
The Australian is immensely popular in China.
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