 Ian James
Thorpe (born 13 October 1982), nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian
swimmer who specializes in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual
medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and
with three gold and two silver medals, was the most successful athlete at the 2000
Summer Olympics. At the 2001 World Aquatics Championships, he became the first person
to win six gold medals in one World Championship.[1] In total, Thorpe has won eleven
World Championship golds, the second-highest number of any swimmer.[2] Thorpe was
the first person to have been named Swimming World Swimmer of the Year four times,
and was the Australian swimmer of the year from 1999 to 2003. His athletic achievements
made him one of Australia's most popular athletes, and he was recognized as the
Young Australian of the Year in 2000.
A large baby, Thorpe weighed 4.1 kg
(9.02 lb) and measured 0.59 m (1 ft 11 in) in length at birth. As a young
child, Thorpe was sidelined by an allergy to chlorine. As a result, he did
not swim in his first race until a school carnival at the age of seven. The allergy
forced Thorpe to swim with his head out of the water; despite this ungainly technique,
he won the race, primarily because of his significant size advantage.Known for his
long-standing interest in fashion, Thorpe serves as an ambassador for Armani, and
has his own line of designer jewelry and underwear. Such interests have fuelled
frequent speculation that Thorpe might be homosexual (his picture was featured prominently
on gay websites). In 2002, Thorpe finally denied this rumor, asserting that
he was heterosexual.
During his career, Thorpe was one of the most prominent
and popular sportspeople in Australia. Despite competing in a sport in which the
vast majority of international athletes' earnings are below the poverty line, marketing
surveys consistently ranked Thorpe as 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 was sponsored by Australian
corporate giants such as Qantas, Telstra, and the Seven Network. Thorpe (left) with
fans in 2000. Thorpe's interests in fashion and culture led him to make frequent
visits to New York City (which he describes as a second home) often for engagements
with Armani. He was present at the World Trade Center on the morning of 11 September
2001, having stopped there on his jog, before returning to his hotel after forgetting
his camera. It was during this trip that he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay
Leno, which was notable because of the relative lack of interest in competitive
swimming in America. Thorpe later became a spokesperson for the unsuccessful New
York bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, even promising to continue his career until
the games if New York won the hosting rights.
Thorpe's interests have also seen
him involved in television. In 2002, he played the lead role in the reality television
show Undercover Angels, which imitated the Charlie's Angels series. In the program,
Thorpe directed three young women who performed good deeds for people in need. Although
it averaged more than a million viewers per episode, it was widely panned by critics.
Thorpe has also appeared as an extra in the American sitcom Friends.
Thorpe is widely popular in Asia, particularly Japan.
In 2000, TV Asahi identified him as the swimmer likely to be the most successful
at the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, so they selected him as the event's
marketing figurehead. In the lead-up, Thorpe visited Japan to promote Asahi in a
series of television events, and upon returning for the competition, he was mobbed
at the airport by youthful crowds 25 m deep; hundreds camped outside the Australian
team's 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. It
was estimated that more than 80% of the Japanese public watched his races on television.
In 2002, in the wake of a tourism slump after 11 September terrorist attacks, Thorpe
agreed to be an ambassador for the Australian Tourism Commission in Japan. The high-profile
campaign included a meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
The marketing drive resulted in an upturn in Japanese tourism to Australia, which
was credited to Thorpe. |
BigDonsBoys.com: This site is the web's best repository of the biggest tall
men! After all, I'm 6'2" and so only 6'3" or above is tall to me. You'll find
shirtless college jocks, frat boys, skinny and lanky guys, NBA basketball players,
NFL football stars, college football players, NCAA college basketball players,
soccer jocks, track and field and water polo athletes, shirtless swimmers, baseball
players, the tallest historic giants, pro wrestlers, college wrestlers, strongmen,
powerlifters, soldiers, policemen, shirtless bodybuilder supermen, tall men
looming in doorways, aspiring male models, giant boys and boyish giants. Head
shots, shirtless shots, fashion photos, action shots, and lots of Webshots style
party photos. Plus there are occasional glimpses of all the big men's girlfriends,
coeds, wives and female bar acquaintances in their orbit. They are always dating
A-list looking gals as nobody gets the girls like tall men. At this point, if
a tall guy goes to a frat party attended by somebody on Facebook I will eventually
find out about it. De Altura Guapo Modelos Masculinos ◦ Beau Grand Homme
◦ Stattlicher Mann Hoch ◦ Bel Uomo Alto ◦ высокий красивый мужчина
