Editing Ian Thorpe (section)

===1999 Pan Pacific Championships===
{{MedalTableTop|name=no|header=[[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships|1999 Pan Pacific Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold | [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Men's 200 metre freestyle|200 m freestyle]] | 1:46.00 (WR)}}
{{MedalGold | [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Men's 400 metre freestyle|400 m freestyle]] | 3:41.83 (WR)}}
{{MedalGold | [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay|4×100 m freestyle]] | 3:16.08}}
{{MedalGold | [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay|4×200 m freestyle]] | 7:08.70 (WR)}}
{{MedalBottom}}

The [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships]] were held in August at [[Sydney Olympic Park]], and were viewed as a rehearsal for the [[2000 Summer Olympics]] to be held in the same venue. With Thorpe expected to deliver world records at his first international meet in Sydney, the event was shown live on Australian television for the first time. The opening night saw him pitted against Hackett and South Africa's [[Ryk Neethling]] in the [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Men's 400 metre freestyle|400&nbsp;m freestyle]] final.<ref>Hunter, pp. 146–147.</ref> The trio reached the 200&nbsp;m mark in a group, on world record pace, before Thorpe broke away, recording a split time 1.86&nbsp;s ahead of world-record pace at 300&nbsp;m. He extended his lead to four body lengths by the 350&nbsp;m mark and finished in a time of 3&nbsp;min 41.83&nbsp;s, cutting almost two seconds from the world record,<ref name="abc career"/><ref name=s21>Swanton, p. 21.</ref><ref name=s51>Swanton, p. 51.</ref> and covering the second half in almost the same time as the first.<ref name="firstwr">{{cite news|first=Stephen J.|last=Thomas|title=1999 Pan Pacific Championships: Day 1|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/981.asp|work=Swimming World|date=22 August 1999|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200501/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/981.asp|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Hunter, pp. 147–148.</ref> Talbot reacted to the performance by dubbing Thorpe as "the greatest swimmer we've [Australia] ever had",<ref name=h149>Hunter, p. 149.</ref> whilst four-time American Olympic gold medalist [[Rowdy Gaines]], commentating for [[NBC]], said "...he went into a balls-out sprint at 250&nbsp;– and I have never seen anything like that...I have been around swimming a long time and it's the most amazing swim I've ever seen, hands down."<ref name=s51/><ref name=h149/> A formula used by the International Swimming Statisticians Association to compare world records in different events gave his performance the highest score of all current world records.<ref>Hunter, p. 150.</ref> Thorpe promptly donated the A$25,000 prize money for breaking the first world record in the pool to charity.<!-- which charity? --><ref name="gsiprofile"/><ref name="andrews"/><ref name=s22>Swanton, p. 22.</ref><ref>Hunter, pp. 152–153.</ref>

Later the same night, Thorpe anchored the Australians to a historic victory in the [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay|4&nbsp;×&nbsp;100&nbsp;m freestyle]] final,<ref name="s51" /><ref name="s22" /> the first time the United States had lost the event. Thorpe set an Australian record relay split of 48.55&nbsp;s. Even taking into account a 0.6–0.7&nbsp;s for a flying relay start, his split time was almost 1&nbsp;s faster than his individual best of 49.98&nbsp;s.<ref name="firstwr" /> It was to be the first of many occasions in which he would anchor the Australian relay teams to victory over the Americans, with splits consistently faster than his equivalent individual times.<ref>Hunter, pp. 150–151.</ref> The following night, in the semi-finals of the [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Men's 200 metre freestyle|200&nbsp;m freestyle]], Thorpe broke Hackett's world record by 0.33&nbsp;s, clocking 1&nbsp;min 46.34&nbsp;s.<ref name="abc career" /><ref>{{cite news|first=Stephen J.|last=Thomas|title=1999 Pan Pacific Championships: Day 2|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/984.asp|work=Swimming World|date=23 August 1999|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200534/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/984.asp|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> The next day in the final, he again broke the record,<ref name="s21" /> lowering it to 1&nbsp;min 46.0&nbsp;s.<ref name="abc career" /><ref>{{cite news|first=Stephen J.|last=Thomas|title=1999 Pan Pacific Championships: Day 3|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/985.asp|work=Swimming World|date=24 August 1999|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930154728/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/985.asp|archive-date=30 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Hunter, pp. 153–155.</ref> He finished his competition by leading off the [[1999 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships – Men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay|4&nbsp;×&nbsp;200&nbsp;m freestyle]] team with Klim, Hackett and [[Bill Kirby]] to victory. Their time lowered their own world record by more than three seconds, completing Thorpe's fourth world record in four nights.<ref name="andrews" /><ref name="abc career" /><ref name="andrews h" /><ref>{{cite news|first=Stephen J.|last=Thomas|title=1999 Pan Pacific Championships: Day 4|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/989.asp|work=Swimming World|date=25 August 1999|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927195747/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/989.asp|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Hunter, pp. 147–157.</ref><ref name="s23">Swanton, p. 23.</ref>

Immediately after the Pan Pacific Championships, Thorpe's management announced his signing to [[Adidas]] for an undisclosed six-figure sum, stating that he would race in their new bodysuit. This presented a dilemma, as the national team was sponsored and wore outfits designed by [[Speedo]], leading to months of protracted discussions and uncertainty.<ref>Hunter, pp. 162–166.</ref> To compound his commercial difficulties, Thorpe had an uncertain end to the sporting year when, in October, he broke a bone in his ankle whilst jogging.<ref>{{cite news|title=Thorpedo Torpedoed|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1043.asp|work=Swimming World|date=21 October 1999|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930154716/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1043.asp|archive-date=30 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> However his performance throughout the year was recognised when he was again named as the World Swimmer of the Year by ''Swimming World'', and by Swimming Australia as its Swimmer of the Year. In a wider arena, he was named [[List of Young Australian of the Year Award recipients|Young Australian of the Year]],<ref name="YAOTY"/> [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] Sports Star of the Year, and Male Athlete of the Year at the Australian Sports Awards.<ref name="andrews"/><ref>Hunter, pp. 170–173.</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Thorpe, Heyns Named 1999 World Swimmers of the Year|url=http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1101.asp|work=Swimming World|date=7 December 1999|access-date=21 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200428/http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/1101.asp|archive-date=27 September 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>