Stars of 2000

 Ian Thorpe (1982- ) 

Ian broke three world records in three days.

Early Life

Ian  Thorpe, a New South Wales 17 year old, has a wonderful career in swimming. He was born on the 13th of October 1982.  Ian's mother, Margaret, is a teacher, his father is a gardener and his sister, Christina, is also a swimmer. When Ian was 8, he got tired of watching his sister swim and decided he would join her, although he wasn't very serious about a swimming career until three years ago. He swam at the National and State Age Championships where he won everything from the 400m individual medley to the 50m freestyle. Though he originally concentrated on backstroke, he switched to freestyle and now competes in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.

Career Achievements

He has the nickname Thorpedo, It may have something to do with his great speed. He also has another nickname, Flipper, which is because of his size 16 feet. He certainly lived up to his nicknames at the Olympic Selection Trials. Ian now has taken his world record tally to six. It is outstanding for a 17 year old teenager to be clocking all these world records. In the Australian Selection Trials of the Olympic Games, Ian broke his own 400m freestyle world record in the time of 3:41.33 which was seven seconds faster than his heat swim in the morning. In the semi-final of the 200m freestyle he broke his own world record in a time of 1:45.69. That night he did it again. The new world record is now 1:45.51. This was the third time in as many days.  We believe that Ian will be breaking more world records at the Olympic Games this year. Good luck Ian.

                    Susie O'Neill (1973- )                    

Susie smashed the longest-standing world record in the history of swimming.

Early Life

Susan O'Neill was born on the 2nd of August 1973 in Mackay, Queensland, and attended Lourdes Hill College. At the age of eight Susie started swimming with her coach Bernie Wakefield. She began as a freestyle swimmer but at 12 she switched to backstroke. She started to swim butterfly when she was 14.

Career Achievements

At the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, when she was 16 years old, Susie won a silver medal in the 200 metres butterfly and a gold medal as a member of the 4x100 metres medley relay.  In 1991 Susie was the first Australian woman to swim the 100 metres butterfly in less than a minute.

When she won her gold medal for the 200 metres butterfly, Susie was the first Australian female swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since 1980. She was the most successful Australian swimmer at the Atlanta Games. She holds the record as the Australian swimmer who has won the most gold medals (ten) at the Commonwealth Games. 

Susie O'Neill certainly deserves her nickname Madam Butterfly. In the Australian Selection Trials of the Olympic Games she smashed the longest-standing world record in the history of swimming, Mary T Meagher's  200m butterfly world record. Australian's queen of the pool boogied on the pool deck at the Olympic selection trials in Sydney as she finally demolished the world record. O'Neil carved a whopping 0.15sec off that with a swim of 2min05.81sec, the first long course world record of an international career that had spanned a decade and brought her every other conceivable honour. We believe that Susie will break more world records at the Olympic Games this year. Good luck Susie.

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