MillionFace

Its swimming season all the way - Summer, Olympics, Phelps having won 3 golds, to join the elite club of Spitz, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larysa Latynina, each with nine and now with an unfinished business of bringing home a record-setting eight golds this Olympics,

Swimming has always been a sport where the vast majority of international athletes live below the poverty line

Amidst all this let’s have a look at Ian Thorpe’s Retirement Speech. Thorpe often called as Thorpedo is one of the most prominent and popular sportsmen in the world. Here is an edited transcript of Ian Thorpe’s retirement speech and selected answers to questions:

“You’ve seen my swimming career very publicly since I was 15. I was catapulted into the international limelight as a kid and my swimming career started a long time before that. You guys didn’t see it, but I saw it. And it’s continued since that, and I’m certain everyone here’s seen it.

“I’ve reached all of the dizzying heights of this sport, and had a tremendous amount of success that I never thought would happen for myself, and for all of that I’m extremely appreciative.
“I’ve also had some setbacks. I’ve been sick, I’ve had injuries, all those things I’ve had to work through.

“Basically the last bout of them sent me to LA, where I could actually focus on what I was doing with fewer distractions than what I have here.

“And it was a great thing. I don’t know if I’ve been as fit as I was when I was in LA. I had physical and athletic prowess that I hadn’t seen before, and that was thanks to Milton Nelms and his techniques and methods while I was in LA, which I’m very, very grateful for.

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The man has only one mission this Olympics bringing home a record-setting eight golds, Michael Phelps has already won three gold medals in Beijing, setting world records in all three events.

Phelps won 3rd gold, to join the elite club of Spitz, Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larysa Latynina, each with nine share the record for the most gold medals over an Olympic career.

Thousands of spectators and journalists stood on their feet for minutes and applauded in every language one of the greatest moments in the history of swimming, as they held their heads in disbelief. Some commentators even went as far as saying it was the greatest sporting event of all time. Many of the journalists said it was the biggest Olympic moment since runner Michael Johnson’s record at Atlanta, no less

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