Ian Thorpe was groomed to be a champion… but not at swimming

Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe was born to be a swimmer, but it wasn’t necessarily the sport his parents had in mind.

An Australian household name, Thorpe admits “I was supposed to be a cricket player”.

“My father was a very good cricket player,” he tells Luke Grant.

“They actually planned my date of birth so I’d have a good age for cricket… turns out to be a terrible one for swimming.”

The sporting champion says he got into the pool after getting “bored” watching his sister swim at carnivals.

“I had all these problems with my sinuses,” says the 36-year-old.

“It turns out I’m allergic to chlorine, and I still wanted to swim though because I enjoyed it.”

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