Grant Hackett

Grant George Hackett (born May 9, 1980) is an Australian swimmer who won the men's 1500 meters freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, making him one of Australia's greatest ever distance swimmers, perhaps the greatest distance swimmer the sport has ever seen. He also collected a gold medal in Sydney for swimming in the heats of the 4x200 m freestyle relay. He is well regarded for his versatility, being the fastest swimmer of all time in the 1500 m and 800 m freestyle, and 2nd and 4th in the 400 m and 200 m freestyle respectively. He is the current captain of the Australian swimming team.

Career

Hackett was born at Southport on the Gold Coast of Queensland, and first achieved prominence on debut at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships, where he first won the 1500 meters. He also won the 400 m freestyle, recording his only international victory over the yet-to-be-famous Ian Thorpe at the distance in international competition. He also won the event at the 1998 World Championships, and was narrowly upset by Thorpe in the 400 m. He also combined with Thorpe, Michael Klim and Daniel Kowalski to win the 4x200 m freestyle relay, beginning a six-year winning streak in the event over the United States. These results were replicated at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. Since 1997 he has been unbeaten in the 1500 m, winning it at every major world competition, including the World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, Olympics, Commonwealth and Australian Championships.

In 1999, Hackett broke his first world record, unexpectedly breaking Giorgio Lamberti's 200 m freestyle world record at a club-level meet in Queensland. It was subsequently broken by Ian Thorpe in the same year at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, although Hackett himself bettered his old mark. Hackett himself claimed the 1500 m freestyle, and combined with Thorpe, Klim and Bill Kirby to break the world record in the 4x200 m freestyle.

Entering the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Hackett was the overwhelming favourite in the 1500 m freestyle, and was also expected to help Thorpe take a quinella in the 200 m and 400 m events. However, he was struck down by a virus and in the 400 m and 200 m, he was well short of his best, finishing eighth and seventh respectively. He followed this with an extremely slow swim in the heats of the 4x200 m freestyle relay, and was dropped from the final quartet, being replaced by Todd Pearson. By the time the final of the 1500 m freestyle came, Hackett had qualified third behind sentimental favourite Kieren Perkins, who was being vocally cheered by the crowd. In the face of the immense pressure, Hackett adopted a more attacking, fast-starting approach, and managed to hang on to claim gold.

Over shorter distances, however, Hackett has been somewhat overshadowed by his fellow Australian Ian Thorpe, with his versatility over varying distances often unheralded. Despite this, he is a hugely popular figure in Australia. His extroverted personality is in sharp contrast with Thorpe's more reserved style, and is more in line with Australian expectations of sporting figures. His major interests outside swimming are playing the guitar and motor racing.

At the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Hackett was in the peak of his speed. He set personal bests in the 400 m and 800 m freestyle events, finishing second to Thorpe on both occasions, and bettering the previous world record in the latter. Along with Thorpe, Klim and Kirby, they bettered the previous world record in the 4x200 m freestyle. In the 1500 m, Hackett attacked immediately, and stayed well ahead of Perkins' world record, and with the crowd standing and willing him on, he broke the record by 7 seconds, to claim gold.

He replicated the results at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, the 2002 Pan Pacific Championships in Yokohama, and the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, taking the 1500 m and 4x200 m relay, while finishing behind Thorpe in the 400 m and 800 m, except in Barcelona where Thorpe opted not to swim the 800 m freestyle. He also claimed two silvers and a bronze(in Barcelona) for his outings in the 200 m freestyle.

At 196 cm (six foot five) and 89.8 kg (198 pounds), Hackett is an imposing figure, who wins the gruelling 1500 meters race by sheer physical strength and stamina. He showed this in Sydney when he won despite having only partly recovered from illness, and again in Athens, when he survived challenges from swimmers (Larsen Jensen and David Davies) six years his junior to hang on to win the race, despite a partially collapsed lung. This came after a solid swim in the 400 m to claim silver behind Thorpe, and an unconvincing swim in the 200 m and 4x200 m relay, when he was more than a second outside of his best. His sluggish heat swim placed him third, raising concerns amongst the Australian camp.

In 2005, Swimming Australia introduced the concept of a captain for the swimming team. Hackett was awarded this honour, and lead Australia in the World Championships at Montreal, Canada. He won gold medals in the 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle, the first person ever to achieve this feat. He was named as the Australian Swimmer of the Year in 2005, and was also named the Swimmer of the Year by the SwimmingWorld magazine.

In November 2005, Hackett announced his withdrawal from the 2006 Commonwealth Games due to being unavailable for the selection trials due to minor surgery to correct a shoulder injury. However, he has been given dispensation to act as a non-competing captain in order to mentor the fellow swimmers in the lead-up to the competition.

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Career

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