Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 25, 2007

Ian Thorpe is a former Australian freestyle swimmer who is regarded as one of the greatest freestyle swimmers of all time. He has won five Olympic Games gold medals, the most won by any Australian and, in 2001, became the only person to have won six gold medals in one World Championship. Thorpe is the only person to have been named World Swimmer of the Year four times by Swimming World Magazine, and was the Australian swimmer of the year from 1999 to 2003. His athletic achievements made him Australia's most popular athlete, with his philanthropy and clean image earning him further recognition as the Young Australian of the Year in 2000. At the age of 14, he became the youngest male ever to represent Australia, and his victory in the 400 metre freestyle a few months later at the 1998 Perth World Championships made him the youngest ever individual male World Champion. After the Athens Olympics, Thorpe took a year away from swimming, scheduling a return for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. However, he was forced to withdraw due to a bout of glandular fever. Subsequent training camps in the United States were interrupted, and he announced his retirement from competition on November 21, 2006 at the age of 24, citing waning motivation. (more...)

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