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Twenty-five years after his golden night at the Sydney Olympics, Ian Thorpe has revealed he came within a whisker of walking away from swimming at just 17 years of age.
Thorpe, who famously won three gold and two silver medals at the 2000 Games, admitted for the first time that he seriously considered retirement after achieving what he described as his childhood dream – becoming an Olympic champion.
Speaking at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, the venue where he carved his name into sporting folklore, Thorpe recalled the surreal mix of glory, pressure, and suffocating fame that left him thinking he had nothing left to prove.
‘I actually thought, ‘OK, that’s enough for me. I’ve done everything I set out to do’,’ Thorpe told SMH.
‘My goal when I was young was to be an Olympian and my dream was to be an Olympic champion.
‘I had accomplished that and considered for a very brief moment walking away.’
Ian Thorpe reveals he briefly considered retirement after Sydney 2000 glory, believing he had achieved his lifelong dream already
At just 17, Thorpe won two golds in one night, yet almost walked away before his 18th birthday
Thorpe stormed home in the 400m freestyle final, smashing the world record to secure Australia’s first gold medal. Barely an hour later, Thorpe returned to anchor the 4x100m freestyle relay, defeating the USA for historic gold.
It was September 16, 2000, when Thorpe stunned the world with a performance that remains one of the greatest in Australian sporting history.
First came the 400-metre freestyle, where the teenager with size-17 feet powered to gold in front of a raucous home crowd.
Barely an hour later, he anchored the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, overhauling American Gary Hall Jr in the final 15 metres to deliver a historic victory.
The famous air-guitar celebration by his teammates instantly entered Olympic folklore.
Thorpe’s golden double lit the fuse for what would later be hailed as ‘the best Games ever’.
Yet behind the smile and the medals, the young champion was quietly entertaining thoughts of walking away.
As he carried the flag at the closing ceremony Thorpe imagined a life outside the pool.
‘The closing ceremony was over, and it was actually when the fighter jets were flying over the stadium,’ he said.
His teammates mocked American Gary Hall Jr with iconic air-guitar celebrations after Thorpe touched first in the 4x100m relay
Despite global acclaim, Thorpe admitted fame was overwhelming, with stalkers, autograph requests, and surreal celebrity encounters shaping his teenage years
‘That was when I thought, ‘maybe I’m done’. It was suffocating at times, and the pressure was enormous. I’d achieved the impossible dream.’
Thorpe revealed that what pulled him back to the pool wasn’t the lure of more medals, but the inspiration he found away from the sport during his post-Olympics break.
‘My world expanded outside the pool. It was the experiences beyond swimming that actually gave me the motivation to come back in,’ he said.
The Sydney Olympics may have looked like smooth sailing to the millions watching around the globe, but Thorpe reminded fans it was anything but.
Less than a year earlier, he had broken his leg. He was also battling self-doubt after the German head coach publicly accused him of doping, a claim that cut deeply for the 17-year-old.
‘It was assumed I would just win … but I’m 17 and there’s a human behind all of this,’ Thorpe said.
‘I can do extraordinary things, but I was as awkward and uncomfortable as any teenager. I had doubts in myself until I heard the roar of the crowd. That gave me the split-second I needed to flick into race mode.’
Even the legendary relay win almost unravelled before it began. A swimsuit malfunction delayed Thorpe on the blocks, and his nerves didn’t settle until Michael Klim, Australia’s lead-off man, smashed the first two laps in world-record pace.
Looking back 25 years later, Thorpe calls his double triumph on September 16, 2000 the most memorable night ever
From there, Thorpe steadied himself for one of the most famous anchor legs in swimming history.
‘The crowd came to a collective sigh when Hall surged ahead,’ Thorpe said.
‘But I had a good turn. From 15 metres out, people realised it was possible. Those last 10 metres were agony, but the euphoria in the arena and knowing my teammates were waiting for me got me to the wall.’
The aftermath was chaos. His teammates strummed air guitars in mockery of Hall’s pre-race prediction that the USA would ‘smash Australia like guitars’.
When Thorpe entered the dining hall later that night, the room rose to its feet in a standing ovation.
The fame that followed changed his life forever. Strangers constantly share stories of where they were when Thorpe struck gold.
Some even claim they delayed flights to watch his races. One woman went so far as to tell him she gave birth while cheering him on.
‘I was like, ‘Why were you watching?’ Thorpe laughed.
There were surreal brushes with stardom too. He remembers sitting with Chelsea Clinton as Cathy Freeman won her iconic 400m, then weeks later chatting about the Panama Canal with her father, President Bill Clinton, at the White House.
Serena Williams once admitted it was her who screamed ‘Oh my god, it’s Ian Thorpe’ when she spotted him during the Games.
But the cost of superstardom was also clear. Thorpe has dealt with stalkers, endless autograph requests, and even moments of being bowed to in public.
‘I’d like more privacy, but there are things I do that are extremely public,’ he said. ‘I actually much prefer selfies. I think they’re more personal than autographs.’
