Early years

Thorpe was a large baby, weighing 4.1 kg (9.02 lb) and measuring 0.59 m (1 ft 11 in) in length at birth. He grew up in a family with a sporting pedigree in the suburb of Milperra. Thorpe's father, Ken, was a promising cricketer at junior level, representing Bankstown cricket club in Sydney's grade competition. A talented batsman, he once topped the season's batting averages ahead of former Australian captain Bob Simpson. However, paternal pressure detracted from Ken's enjoyment, and he retired aged 26. Thorpe's mother Margaret played A-grade netball, but Thorpe did not seem to inherit his parents' ball skills. His elder sister, Christina, had been given medical advice that swimming would strengthen a broken wrist, so by chance, the five-year-old Thorpe followed her in taking swimming lessons . Due to his unhappy experiences, Ken Thorpe maintained that enjoyment was the most important aspect of his children's participation in sport.

As a young child, Thorpe was sidelined due to a chlorine allergy. Because of this, he did not swim in his first race until age seven (at a school carnival). His allergy forced him to swim with his head out of the water; despite this ungainly technique, he won the race, primarily because of his significant size advantage. Thorpe gradually overcame the allergy and progressed to the captaincy of New South Wales for the Australian Primary Schools titles in 1994. He subsequently won nine individual gold medals at the State Age Short Course Championships in September of that year. In 1995 he started his secondary education at East Hills Boys Technology High School, switching coaches to swim alongside his sister under the tutelage of Doug Frost. It was a busy year for his family, with Christina being selected for the national team to compete at the 1995 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Atlanta. Ian, now six feet tall, competed at his first National Age Championships, winning bronze medals in the 200 m and 400 m freestyle. He won all ten events at the annual State Age Championships.


National debut

Thorpe competed at the 1996 National Age Championships in Brisbane, winning five gold, two silver and two bronze medals. His times in the 400 m freestyle and 200 m backstroke qualified him for the Australian Championships, which were selection events for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Frost knew that Thorpe had no realistic chance of finishing among the top two in any event, which would have meant Olympic selection at an age of only 13 years and 6 months. He sent him to Sydney anyway to gain racing experience at the senior national level. As expected, Thorpe missed selection, as he finished 23rd in the 400 m freestyle and 36th in the 200 m backstroke. At the end of the year, he qualified for the Australian Short Course Championships. It was another chance for Thorpe to gain national selection, as they were the trials for the 1997 FINA Short Course World Championships. He qualified in second place for his first national final in the 400 m individual medley, but swam more slowly in the final to miss selection.

1997 began at the State Championships in January, where his time of 3 min 59.43 s in the 400 m took eight seconds off his personal best, and made him the first 14-year-old in Australia to cover the distance in less than four minutes. Ranked fourth in Australia for the event, Thorpe went into the 1997 Australian Championships in Adelaide as a serious contender for national selection for the 1997 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. With a top-three finish and a specific qualifying time required, Thorpe focused on the 400 m freestyle after injuries to the 400 m freestyle Olympic medallists Kieren Perkins and Daniel Kowalski. Thorpe went on to win bronze behind 16-year-old Queenslander Grant Hackett, setting a new personal best of 3 min 53.44 s. It was a new world age record and the first of many battles with Hackett.

Aged 14 years and 5 months, Thorpe became the youngest male ever to be selected for the Australian team, surpassing John Konrads' record by one month. Frost cited Thorpe's selection as a cause for his eventual focus on freestyle. Thorpe continued his good form at the National Age Championships when he contested all twelve events, winning ten individual gold and two bronze medals, and setting six national records in the process.

Personal life

Thorpe is one of the most prominent and popular sportsmen in Australia. Despite competing in a sport where the vast majority of international athletes live below the poverty line, marketing surveys have consistently shown Thorpe to be the most sought-after Australian athlete for sponsorship deals, surpassing footballers who compete on a weekly basis in much larger stadia. Aside from his swimsuit sponsor Adidas, Thorpe is sponsored by Australian corporate giants such as Qantas, Telstra and the Seven Network. In spite of his popularity as an athlete, his demeanour is often described as being quiet and mild-mannered. Known for his long-standing interest in fashion, he serves as an ambassador for Armani, and has his own line of designer jewellery and underwear. Such interests have often led to speculation that Thorpe might be homosexual, with his picture having been featured prominently on gay websites. In 2002 he finally denied this rumour in a radio interview, asserting that he was heterosexual. He added that he was flattered by the rumours, stating that being part of a minority group showed "strength in your character".

Thorpe's interests in fashion and culture resulted in him making frequent visits to New York City (which he describes as a second home), often for obligations with Armani. He was present at the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001, having stopped there on his morning jog before returning to his hotel. It was during this September trip that he was invited to be interviewed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which was notable due to the relative lack of interest in competitive swimming in America compared to other major sports. He later became a spokesperson for the unsuccessful New York city bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, even promising to defer his retirement to compete in 2012, if New York were to be successful. Thorpe's interests have also seen him involved in television, starring in a reality television show in 2002 called Undercover Angels, which imitated the Charlie's Angels series. The show involved Thorpe directing three young women who performed good deeds for people in need. Although it attracted more than a million viewers, it was widely panned by critics. He has also appeared as an extra in the American sitcom Friends.

Thorpe is widely popular in Asia, and Japan in particular. He was identified in 2000 by TV Asahi as the swimmer likely to be the most successful at the forthcoming 2001 Fukuoka World Championships, and was selected to be its marketing figurehead. He visited Japan before the Championships to promote Asahi in a series of television events, and upon his return for the competition itself, he was mobbed at the airport by youthful crowds 25 m deep, with hundreds camping outside the Australian team hotel. He was also praised by older sections of Japanese society as a role model for youth, due to what they interpreted as his humility and work ethic. In 2002, in the wake of the tourism slump after the September 11 terrorist attacks, he agreed to be a tourism ambassador for the Australian Tourism Commission in Japan. The high-profile campaigning included a meeting with then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, resulting in an upturn in Japanese tourism to Australia which was credited to Thorpe. In 2005 the Yakult company in Japan released a 'Thorpedo' energy drink, featuring a picture of Thorpe on the bottle. This was part of an equity deal with the So Natural food group in which Thorpe was offered a 5% stake in the company, initially worth A$1.1m, in return for the use of his name and image on their products. The 15-year deal covers markets across East and Southeast Asia and could expand Thorpe's share in the venture to 50% depending on its commercial success.

More recently, Thorpe has also emerged as a philanthropist, founding the Ian Thorpe's Fountain for youth in 2000. The organization raises funds for research on childhood illnesses and also sponsors a school in Beijing for orphaned children with disabilities. In addition, it works with The Fred Hollows Foundation to improve health standards and living conditions in Australian aboriginal communities.

On July 7, 2007, Thorpe was one of the presenters at the Australian leg of the Live Earth concert.