Torp biography

At the beginning of the two thousandths, the Australian set the tone in the pool at medium distances by the free style and, by the end of his career, collected an impressive collection of awards. Ian Torp was born a bronze medalist of a free -style meters in Athens, the beginning in swimming the torus was largely by chance. Not penetrated by the screaming that his father played into, the boy was thinking about what to do next, and decided to take an example from the older sister.

At first, classes in the pool were for Iana entertainment, he did not even think about his sports career. Moreover, he trained in many ways contrary to, and not thanks to - he had an allergy to chlorine. However, this did not prevent the young man from studying, who soon surpassed his sister. The boy grew up very quickly, and the coaches realized that the torp has the ideal constitution of the body for such a sport as swimming.

But the most important thing is that Ian himself fell in love with the pool and began to take part in competitions. Funning one victory after another, he was increasingly imbued with his training, from which he began to get real pleasure. Victories were the logical outcome of many hours of classes. Torp entered the national level and, at the age of 13, at the Australian Championship among juniors, nine times rose to the upper step of the pedestal.

Three -time conversations about a talented teenager in an instant scattered around the country. The Australians, for whom swimming is more than just sport, began to follow the torp with interest. And he, in turn, continued to gain momentum. So, a year after the junior triumph, Ian gets a note to the coaches of the main team when it becomes a bronze medalist at the Australian open championship.

In childhood, Ian Torp had finally determined the disciplines specialized for himself - he chose the free -style swimming style, and the main distance for him was a swim of meters. It was on it that he won his first gold at international competitions in the year, after which the star named after Jan Pepe ascended. Torp went to the world championship next year by a full member of the Australian team and, in its results, became the youngest world champion in the history of swimming.

It should be noted that Ian was extremely good on two hundred meters. The only thing is that he could sometimes slowly go through the first half of the distance; Still, the torp was not a pure sprinter, since, in addition to distances for and meters, he took part in the swims per meters, which require a perfect other tactics. Torp approached the home Olympics in Sydney in excellent shape and was the main favorite of his two individual swims.

In addition, the coaches of the national team, realizing that Ian was great, told him to all relay races. And Torp did not fail - largely thanks to his efforts, the Australians celebrated success in two rabbit relay races and meters, defeating the favorites - Americans. Ian Torp at the Olympics, in fact, Ian became the main “rabbit” of his country - at distances from meters he had no equal.

Throme meters staged a real splash, defeating the Olympic and world record. By the way, the Australian kept the highest world achievement in this type of program for ten children, which indicates the grandeur of its result. However, in the world there was one person who did not agree with Ian's dominance on meter. In the final swim, all the attention was focused on two swimmers - the king of meters Torpu and an athlete who was able to interrupt the victorious deed of the legendary Alexander Popov - Dutchman Peter Van Den Hugenbandu.

As a result, he became a triumph of the swim, plunging into both the torp itself and his multimillion -dollar army of fans. Five -time, despite an annoying defeat, the Australian did not remove the meter from the program of his performances. Moreover, he gradually shifted the emphasis towards sprint swims and began to try his strength at the most prestigious distance in swimming - free -style meters.

So, after the World Cup, Torp no longer performed on meters, since this swim was not part of the Olympic Games program. In general, that championship became triumphal for him - Ian won six gold awards in total. At that time, Ian Torp had reached unprecedented heights - increased attention from the press and fans who wanted to know everything about their idol was focused on him.

In the media, the words of his coach began to be executed that Ian is able to win nine gold medals at the Olympics in Athens. The tension between the torp and his mentor increased, and as a result, the endless disputes of the coach and the student forced the latter to leave him to the assistant. As many experts predicted, this negatively affected the results of the swimmer. Yes, he continued to win, but already without records.

Nevertheless, at the World Cup in Barcelona, ​​Torp again became the central character. To his second revenge at Hugenband and a predictable victory on the meter, he added two more medals in the personal types of the program. Ian became a bronze medalist of a hundred -meter free style and - attention! Here is an amazing swimmer!The Olympic Games in Athens have been waiting for swimming lovers with impatience.

There were many interesting confrontations in those days in Greece, but still the final swim of meters by free style stood apart. For four years he had been waiting for the torp of this moment and waited. Neither Van Den Hugenband, nor by that time, the best swimmer of the world of Felps, did not interfere with him to win one of his main distances. At a distance, Ian experienced the desperate resistance from the compatriot Grant Hamette, but still prevailed in this Australian confrontation.

Plus, he repeated the success of Barcelona, ​​winning bronze on a hundred meters free style.

The sad sunset of the Athenian Olympiad replaced the King of Swimming - this status crossed from torp to felps, which a year earlier in Barcelona showed the seriousness of his intentions. Apparently, Ian himself realized that from now on he was not the main star in the pool, and attention to his person would gradually decline. After the Olympic Games, he decided to temporarily suspend his career.

In the soul of Torp, he hoped to prepare for Beijing to replenish his collection of Olympic awards. And when a year later he returned, everyone froze in anticipation. But they parted with reality - injury and serious viral infections did not allow him to break into the national team. So his Olympic plans remained dreams. By and large, this meant that the swimming for the torp ended forever.

And although in M ​​he again attempted to get to the Olympics, no one seriously believed in the Australian. It was obvious that Ian was already close to the same as before. The repetition of the happy story of Vladimir Salnikov, who won at the Olympiads with a gap of eight years, did not happen. Despite the fact that the ending of his career turned out to be unsuccessful, the torp will be remembered thanks to the victories - at the beginning of this century he was unconditionally the best swimmer in the world.