Ian Thorpe

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OzAurora

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So what do you all rekon about this?????

for those of you not aware, this is the story,


AUSTRALIAN sports fans are still reeling from that moment of horror on Saturday when Olympic 400m champion and world record holder Ian Thorpe toppled off the block and was disqualified.

Everyone feels for Thorpe. Disqualification should not have been a factor in defence of his crown.

With his hope of defending that title seemingly dashed, it is understandable the one-start rule in swimming should once again be questioned.

But rules are rules and this particular one has caught many swimmers out, including 10-year-olds who are not shown any mercy either.

The best thing that could happen now would be for everyone to accept what occurred and just move on.

Sadly, some elements - former swimmers, politicians and particularly in the media - are applying pressure on Craig Stevens, the swimmer who has earned second spot in the 400m behind Grant Hackett, to step down.

They are airing scenarios under which Stevens might be bypassed to give Thorpe a shot at the 400m in Athens.

This is unfair. Stevens swam the race of his life on Saturday night to beat the tough Olympic qualifying time.

He will probably do the same in the 1500m later this week. He has won the right to represent his country - a fact acknowledged by his colleagues, including Thorpe.

Let him get on with it, without him feeling he is somehow responsible for denying his mate a place on the starting block.



I personally think that it is very un-fair for Thorpe and a hard situation for Stevens to be in. If I was Stevens I would probably be giving up my position, whilst he did come second in his race fair and square, this only came by way of a silly accident on Thorpe's part, clearly if Thorpe had not heard what he thought was some sort of extra noise in the crowd, then he would not of faulted and would definately be the one of two in the event to represent Austraia and Stevens would probaby of been placed third. I feel for the other swimmers in this event, who if by some chance event, do not have Thorpe in the race at Athens, will be competing against a lesser side, not having the current record holder and previous olympic champion in the event will not make for a very competitive race.

But then again rules are rules and Thorpe did break a rule, although personally I think that it is sad to see an elite athlete disqualified from his pet event by way of a false start, when so many other athletes do not compete as a result of injury or being found for doping, to have an athlete at the prime of fitness not racing just seems a waste.............

and he is the 'Thorpedo", what to do, what to do????????
:(
 
it is a shame
because the beauty of the olympics is having all the worlds best athletes there

now someone else will get the silver medal behind Van den Hoogenband :D
 
I'm also of the opinion that rules are rules. Thorpe did make a false start, intentionally or not. If the rules say disqualification, then it's a disqualification how unfortunate it may be. It happens everywhere. Or would you like to have a repeat of the embarrising situation of last year's world championships athletics (where an athlete refused to leave the track after he was disqualified). :yuck:
No, sorry. If this was Thorpe's only chance of qualifying, then I do feel for him, but then it's got to do more with the system of qualifying than with causing a false start and pressuring someone else to give up his chance of being part of an Olympic championship.

C ya!

Marty
 
Well, i believe fair's fair and if he's so pathetic he can't hold his balance, he doesnt deserve to be in the lyrics.....


.....although I'm biased.

I have never encountered such an arrogant asshole, i cringe when i see him on television. With his false smile and his pretnetious attitude.

a few years back he was swimming in melbourne and a few of us thought we might go and watch the swimming.

he started talking with young kids making him look like a true national hero and a nice guy for the cameras and signed a few autographs...of course the cameras captured his "nice" side
....


...but they never saw his bad side....

after the night we were walking ouside the venue and we saw thorpey walking past with another swimming colleague. there were about 6 people asking for autographs. thorpey was talking to his mate using a few explicit words which i didnt expect to hear.....so we asked him for his autograph and he looked around (presumably for cameras) and told us that he was busy and we should 'piss off'....we were all shocked and one bloke, about 50, told him he wasnt living up to his reputation and should apreciate his fans once in a while when the cameras arent on him....thorpey looked pretty pissed off and started pointing at the bloke tellling him where to go, threatening him and stuff...we were all pretty shocked, and just let him go....


"Don't believe what you hear, don't believe what you see,.......we thought he'd hit out at the bloke, and we realised he was the enemy...."

Sorry to break it to you, but thorpe craves media attention and is in reality and pompous arrogant rich boy who always gets what he wants.....that being good publicity.

I sometimes wonder if the 'fall into the pool thing' is a scam to portray him as a fair and nice guy......from my experience, i wouldnt be surprised
 
woohoo !!


we're not as good at sports as the aussies because we drink even more


:shifty:

or maybe there's another reason
 
this is total bullshit about stevens possibly stepping down and giving him his spot. stevens cannot make that decision and its putting unfair pressue on him now because of the psychotic media frenzy over it. thorpe balked. tough titties to him. he didn't qualify. i cant stand him and his shit eating grin, and even if i did like him, still too bad. he didnt qualify. sucks for him it is the only time since he was 9 years old or something to break like this, but you get that. this is sport. lets give peiter who van hoover dam a chance to win.

god knows, the dutch need it more than us.
:lol:
 
hmm, so Thorpe will get to go

the sad thing is that I can't even really blame the guy who gave up his spot
I probably would have feared for my life if I was in his shoes :huh:
 
:mad: This is ugly. Yep, the other guy had no chance.

Tell Pieter van den Hooverman to increase his training cause theres lots of Aussies who want Pieter to beat the pearl jewellery out of Thorpe. :|
 
Thorpe is going to swim it.

Stevens is going to Athens anyway for the 1500 and will win a gold medal for the 4x200 relay so i don't have a problem with it. I do have a problem with the selection system though, since it doesn't reward consistency over the years between Olympics. I prefer the Athletics system with a qualifying times and then the team selection taking those times into account and also their consistency.
 
I like the thorpedo, I just wish that he would 'come out', apparently he said that he wasn't gay, but I dont buy it. Anyway, as if Steven's was going to swim that race, if he had lost, well deary me, on arriving back in Australia, he would of been lynched, I hope Thopey wins his races and I hope Stevens gets a second in the 1500 after Hackett- poor guy, all those years being bridesmaid to King Kieren!!!!

Roll on Athens, I just hope the Athenians have enough time to put some water in the pool:huh:
 
What's the point in a qualifying process if the qualifiers have already been chosen?

An absolute farce, an absolute farce......
 
the farce is thorpe didn't qualify at ALL. he wasn't next behind stevens.

athens are predicted to be ready about a week before opening ceremony or something.
:der:

this will be interesting. :huh:
 
beli said:


:lmao:

They have shortened the race, so its now going to be held in a bath tube. :|

acturly there going to get Jamie Durie and the backyard blitz team into Athens...
just imagine it

"alright folks we've sent the president of the athens olympics away to bali for 2 days...we've got 48 hours"

i've also heard the first events in the pool are going to be brick laying
 
WHo was the *ahem* :drool: *ahem* bald guy on the Aus swim team last Olympics?? He swam in relay..Michael somthing-or-other?? THAT was a great race...just the hyped competition between the US and Aus (with the American saying, "WE'll play those Aussies like guitars") and the entire Aussie swim team playing air guitar after they had won. :lmao: beautiful.
 
The_Sweetest_Thing said:
WHo was the *ahem* :drool: *ahem* bald guy on the Aus swim team last Olympics?? He swam in relay..Michael somthing-or-other??

That would be Michael Klim- he is a bit of a cutie and is a short distance swimmer- he usually does the 50 & 100 metres freestyle and butterfly events.

klim17.jpg


klim18.jpg
 
Oz: I heard Channel Seven's got a five year plan to get Thorpe out of the closet :wink: Or they might just wait until he retires...
 
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