The 50-day countdown to the biggest multi-sport event- The Rio 2016 Olympic Games is here. The games which will begin on August 5th in Brazil will witness the largest every Olympic contingent from India. Star Sports which will be broadcasting the event across eight channels held an event in Mumbai to mark the occasion.
The channel has exclusively brought together an elite panel of international and Indian Olympians as sports experts who will share, analyse and connect with the Indian viewers as the live action unfolds. The panel includes Ian Thorpe, Prakash Padukone, Anjali Bhagwat, Viren Rasquinha and Rehan Poncha.
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Five-time Australian Olympic Gold medallist, Ian Thorpe gave his insights on what lies ahead and talked about his visit to India among other things. His victory at the 1998 World championships in Perth made him the youngest ever individual male world champion. He won it when he was a sixteen-year-old.
Sportskeeda caught up with him as he made his first visit to the country. Here are the excerpts from the interview:
So Ian, is this your first visit to India?
Yes, it is. I’ve always wanted to come to India but I’ve wanted to spend a month or two months here. Because I think it’s a kind of place where you need to spend a lot of time. So it’s strange that I’ve come for such a short time. But yes, I prefer to be on vacation around India. I want to explore the historic parts of this country. It’s the birthplace of all these different religions.
A melting pot of cultures that exists here is quite interesting for me. It feels as if there are many countries within one. I also like the food and have been able to enjoy the spices and what not. That is probably the main reason.
What made you take up a commentating job in India?
I look at the values I have in the Olympics and I want to share that with people. I want to tell people how you can aspire to do great things and to be able to accomplish them. It’s going to be broadcasted to a very large audience. I want to be able to take them through sports that people may not know the same amount about swimming. I want to introduce people to a sport I love. There’s also a challenged attached to this. I want to be able to share the best of what the Olympics has and energize them.
Australia has been a traditional powerhouse in Olympics. Not anymore compared to the previous years. Why?
I think we’re overly simplifying it. We attribute it to being only one thing. It's more than that. When we look at recent history and you must consider that we had increased funding leading into the Sydney Olympics. Which we carried over the benefit to the Athens Olympic games.
In 2008, we kind of started to fall from that position. Only so slightly. Then we get to 2012 and the result wasn’t as good. At the same time, some of those countries that we were ahead of, have had increases in funding. Great Britain was one of them and they’ve performed very well. Funding was increased at the London games because you don’t want to host the games and not perform well there.
So it’s this combination including the sharing of different technologies. Different research around sports and performance. I think we’ll be in a higher position as far as the medal count is concerned this time around. I think we’ll finish in fifth position or around that. In swimming, we’ll probably be behind the Americans but we’ll win between 4-6 medals quite conservatively.
How big is the drug menace at the Olympic games?
I don’t know exactly. I believe it’s the minority. And even when we go back, we look at these tests that have come up and we look at new technologies to test, I think this is a great thing.
It’s kind of like when DNA testing came in. It meant that there were people who were in jail and got released from jail since they were innocent. And rightly so there were people who were guilty who were put into jail.
I think that when we catch people, we have to change the conversation. From it being on about everyone must be on drugs to isn’t it great that we caught these people? It’s too easy to say everyone must be on drugs. I also think at that for athletes who are clean, there is such strength and power knowing that you’re a clean athlete.
Even If you suspect that someone else may be doping, the game that you have by being clean is incredibly powerful. I don’t see how the benefit of using drugs could actually eclipse that. Having honesty and integrity in what you’re doing is the most powerful thing you can possess in sport
What goes through a debutant’s mind at the Olympics?
My advice for people is not to worry. Everyone else is as nervous as you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re an Olympic champion, then there’s actually more pressure on you. You have to do it again! So you’re nervous and you feel the same as everyone else. You have to feel as if the weight of the nation is behind you and spurring you on rather than weighing you down.
Realizing that it’s well-wishers and not expectations. Most importantly you have to enjoy the experience and realize how fortunate you are to be among a very elite group. It means you can take pride in yourself.
What’s the sporting situation is Australia like?
Swimming is the most popular Olympic sport. It drives most of the coverage for us. People tend to know who the swimmers are more so than the other athletes. For swimming, we have the highest participation rate for any of the Olympic sports. In Australia, its second highest to fishing! If that’s a sport? I’ll give it that it’s a sport. But we’ve won a diverse group of medals from different sports and that too gold medals.
We’ve won in taekwondo which isn’t traditionally a sport that Australians take part in. In Australia, we have a broad approach to sports and realize the value it has in our communities. The argument is that we commit to sports because it can really lift a community but it can also lift the nation. As we try and combat an obesity epidemic, it also becomes a great way of cutting future healthcare costs!
Do you think anyone can dominate the upcoming Olympic games in swimming like you and Michael Phelps did?
I think it will be more on the women’s side. There are two great American swimmers - Katie Ledecky (age 19) has been swimming remarkably and so has Missy Franklin (age 21). I think both of them will be dominant. But we also have some great swimmers in Australia at the moment.
In 100 metres freestyle, we have the number one ranked swimmer in the men’s and women’s. In women’s, we have number 1 and 2. Both sisters. So this will be an interesting story that plays out at the Olympic games.
Was motivation ever an issue for you? You took a break and returned like Michael Phelps
For me motivation was never an issue. I was an athlete that preferred training over competing. So it wasn’t just those rewards of winning medals. I like the experience of training. I was looking at athletes when they’re on top and how long they have been there. It’s only a few years that you get in swimming. Especially in sprint swimming.
Someone like Michael Phelps has been good enough to be in his fourth Olympic games now. His results have varied but he’s been good enough to stay in the sport. For me, I lost my love for it the first time because I didn’t feel as if my swimming career was my own anymore. I felt that I couldn’t train and have the privacy to what I needed to do in training. I wasn’t able to connect with the water anymore. I persisted for a long time and when I returned I got that feeling back. I got back my love for the sport.
What’s been the toughest training routine that you’ve been part of?
I did one at a high altitude where I probably swam 10-11 km in one session. I had to do 3000 metres for time and it was the fastest that anyone had ever done it in the world. I think I did it in 30 minutes and 20 seconds or so.
I can remember we had to do 1000 metres after it which is kind of easy swimming. The I had a heart rate check. I was 20 beats below normal heart rate at around 150 metres. I wasn’t aware I had to do this as well because I had put everything into those 3000 metres. I had enough time to think about whether or not I committed myself to the session.
All the other swimmers were furious with the coach because he kind of deceived us. But I needed to know when it came to race day that I had done everything that’s required so that when I race on my worst day, I am better than my competitors on their best day. I also got out of the pool and yelled at my coach in the end.
Do you like your nickname? Thorpedo
Look I don’t mind it. I have a lot of nicknames. I thought it was kind of creative and cool. The Americans seem to love it.
Are you connected to cricket in any way? Your father was a cricketer
My birthday is very good for cricket in Australia. So my father tried to plan that because I have a great birth date for age group cricket.
When I was younger I was taught to play cricket but I could only use my left hand. So I was never allowed to hit a six. I played at high school a little bit but I wasn’t really passionate about it. Plus, as a young kid I used to go and watch my father play. For a young child, watching a cricket team field is not the most entertaining. So I didn’t have the love for cricket that the rest of my family has.
