Editing Ian Thorpe (section)

===2000 Summer Olympics===
{{MedalTableTop|name=no|header=[[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics|2000 Summer Olympics]]}}
{{MedalGold | [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle|400 m freestyle]] | 3:40.59 (WR)}}
{{MedalGold | [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay|4×100 m freestyle]] | 3:13.67 (WR)}}
{{MedalGold | [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay|4×200 m freestyle]] | 7:07.05 (WR)}}
{{MedalSilver | [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle|200 m freestyle]] | 1:45.83}}
{{MedalSilver | [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay|4×100 m medley]] | 3:35.27}}
{{MedalBottom}}
Entering the Olympics, the Australian public expected Thorpe to deliver multiple world records and gold medals as a formality; Sydney's ''[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|Daily Telegraph]]'' posted a front-page spread headlined ''Invincible''.<ref name=s910/><ref>Hunter, p. 211.</ref> Thorpe cruised through the heats of the [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 400 metre freestyle|400&nbsp;m]] on the first morning of competition, posting a new [[List of Olympic records in swimming|Olympic record]] and shortening bookmakers' odds to 50–1.<ref name=s910>Swanton, pp. 9–10.</ref><ref>Hunter, p. 212.</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Phillip|last=Whitten|title=Olympic Day 1 Prelims – Complete|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1781.asp|work=Swimming World|date=16 September 2000|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930154605/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1781.asp|archive-date=30 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> By the time the final was held that night, the pressure had intensified—the host nation had yet to win its first gold medal. Thorpe led throughout, and although Italy's [[Massimiliano Rosolino]] was within a body length at the 300&nbsp;m mark, Thorpe's finishing kick extended the final margin to three body lengths.<ref>Hunter, pp. 214–215.</ref> This set a new world record of 3&nbsp;min 40.59&nbsp;s.<ref name="oly2000 d1">{{cite news|first=Phillip|last=Whitten|title=Olympics – Day 1 Finals (Complete)|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1784.asp|work=Swimming World|date=16 September 2000|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200607/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1784.asp|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Swanton, pp. 79–80.</ref> Secret tests carried out by the [[Italian National Olympic Committee]] prior to the Olympics later showed that Rosolino had abnormal levels of human growth hormone.<ref>{{cite book|first=P.H.|last=Mullen|title=Gold in the Water: the true story of ordinary men and their extraordinary dream of Olympic glory|url=https://archive.org/details/goldinwatertrues00mull|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/goldinwatertrues00mull/page/326 326]|location=New York|publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|year=2001|isbn=0-312-31116-8}}</ref><ref name=h217>Hunter, p. 217.</ref> Rosolino aside, Thorpe had left bronze medallist [[Klete Keller]] fifteen metres in arrears.<ref name=h217/>

Thorpe lined up later in the night alongside Klim, [[Chris Fydler]] and [[Ashley Callus]] to anchor the [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay|4&nbsp;×&nbsp;100&nbsp;m freestyle relay]], an event which the Americans had never lost at Olympic level. The third leg ended with Australia only an arm's length ahead of the United States.<ref>Swanton, pp. 83–85.</ref> Thorpe timed his dive much better than [[Gary Hall Jr.]], and surfaced a body length ahead. Hall's sprinting ability allowed him to open a lead by the final turn,<ref>Swanton, pp. 86–87.</ref><ref>Hunter, pp. 221–222.</ref> but Thorpe's finishing kick overhauled him in the final metres, sparking wild celebrations amongst the partisan crowd.<ref name="abc career"/><ref name="oly2000 d1"/><ref>Swanton, pp. 88–89.</ref>

Prior to the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay, Hall posted on his blog: "My biased opinion says that we will smash them (Australia's 4x100m team) like guitars. Historically the U.S. has always risen to the occasion. But the logic in that remote area of my brain says it won't be so easy for the United States to dominate the waters this time." The Australian team responded to Hall's remarks after the race by playing [[air guitar]] on the pool deck. Hall recalled the race, saying, "I don't even know how to play the guitar...I consider it the best relay race I've ever been part of. I doff my cap to the great Ian Thorpe. He had a better finish than I had."<ref>{{cite magazine | url=http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,55195,00.html | magazine=Time | title=The Stuff of Heroes | date=18 September 2000 | access-date=3 May 2010 | first=Tom | last=Dusevic | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813223945/http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,55195,00.html | archive-date=13 August 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Another member of Australia's victorious 4x100 team, [[Michael Klim]], recalled that "Hall was the first swimmer to come over and congratulate us. Even though he dished it out, he was a true sportsman".

When Thorpe broke the [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 200 metre freestyle|200&nbsp;m freestyle]] Olympic record in the heats the following morning,<ref>{{cite news|first=Phillip|last=Whitten|title=Olympic Prelims: Day Two|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1789.asp|work=Swimming World|date=17 September 2000|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195721/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1789.asp|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> his main rival [[Pieter van den Hoogenband]] of the Netherlands (with World No. 2 ranked and teammate Michael Kim bypassing the 200 metres) conceded defeat.<ref>Swanton, p. 99.</ref><ref name=h227>Hunter, p. 227.</ref> However, van den Hoogenband showed his hand in the semi-finals by cutting more than a second off his personal best, to set a new world record of 1&nbsp;min 45.35&nbsp;s. Thorpe qualified second with a personal best of his own, 0.02&nbsp;s slower,<ref name=h227/><ref>Swanton, p. 100.</ref> and was under immense pressure to win the final the following day after his double gold on the first night.<ref>{{cite news|first=Phillip|last=Whitten|title=Olympic Day 2 Finals|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1792.asp|work=Swimming World|date=17 September 2000|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195839/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1792.asp|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Swanton, pp. 101–102.</ref> Van den Hoogenband started quickly and Thorpe chased him, reaching the 100&nbsp;m mark just 0.04&nbsp;s behind. Both swimmers turned at 150&nbsp;m in identical times. As a result of starting harder than usual, Thorpe faded as van den Hoogenband drew away to claim gold and equal his world record, stunning the home crowd. Thorpe touched in 1&nbsp;min 45.83&nbsp;s, the first time that he had swum slower in the final than in the qualifying rounds.<ref>{{cite news|first=Phillip|last=Whitten|title=Olympic Day 3 Finals – Complete|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1799.asp|work=Swimming World|date=18 September 2000|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930154738/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1799.asp|archive-date=30 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Swanton, pp. 103–105.</ref><ref>Hunter, pp. 228–229.</ref> Thorpe would never lose to van den Hoogenband in a long course 200 metres race again.

Thorpe returned to victory when he led off the [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay|4&nbsp;×&nbsp;200&nbsp;m freestyle relay]] the following night, setting up a 10&nbsp;m lead over American [[Scott Goldblatt]] in the first leg. Although Thorpe was unable to reclaim the individual world record,<ref>Swanton, p. 109.</ref> he, Klim, Kirby and [[Todd Pearson]] lowered their world record to 7&nbsp;min 07.05&nbsp;s,<ref name="s110">Swanton, p. 110.</ref> over five seconds ahead of the Americans—the largest winning margin in an Olympic relay for half a century.<ref>{{cite news|first=Phillip|last= Whitten|title=Olympic Day 4 Finals|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1804.asp|work=Swimming World|date=19 September 2000|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930154751/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1804.asp|archive-date=30 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Talbot, p. 196.</ref> Thorpe rounded off his Olympics by swimming in the heats of the [[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay|4&nbsp;×&nbsp;100&nbsp;m medley relay]], and collected a silver medal when the finals quartet finished behind the Americans.<ref name="abc career" /><ref name="s111">Swanton, p. 111.</ref><ref>Hunter, p. 232.</ref> Thorpe's performances as Australia's leading medalist for the Games were recognised when the [[Australian Olympic Committee]] granted him the honour of [[List of flag bearers for Australia at the Olympics|carrying the flag]] at the [[2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony|closing ceremony]].<ref name="s111" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.olympics.com.au/index.cfm?p=22|title=Games at a Glance|publisher=Australian Olympic Committee|access-date=20 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061014025057/http://www.olympics.com.au/index.cfm?p=22|archive-date=14 October 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Hunter, p. 238.</ref> With three gold and two silver medals, Thorpe was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Olympic Games. At year's end, he was again named by Swimming Australia as the Swimmer of the Year, but van den Hoogenband usurped him as the leading male swimmer chosen by ''Swimming World Magazine''.<ref>Hunter, pp. 226–234.</ref>