Ian Thorpe: The Swimmer (ATOM Study Guide)

Ian Thorpe: The Swimmer is an intimate portrait of a young man who has become something of a national icon. In November 2006 Ian Thorpe, Australia's most successful Olympian, announced his retirement from competitive swimming. Aged 24 and the winner of nine Olympic medals, including five gold, he was adamant that a return to the sport was out of the question. He stepped from the limelight much as he first came to it – articulate, but strangely remote with the media and the public, and without the tribal markings of any familiar kind of Australian male. His short life only came into focus in water where his efficiency and consistency, his line through the pool, elevated swimming to a kind of art. Now that was gone.

Then, in October 2010, he began a comeback – his goal victory at the London Olympics. Immediately friends and filmmakers Gregor Jordan and Simone Kessell started interviewing and filming Ian as he trained, secretly at first, then as he competed in lead-up events to the Olympic trials in Adelaide in March 2012.

This documentary explores this period in Thorpe's life as he struggled to rewrite his sporting legend and swim fast enough to again be competitive at the highest level in his sport.

It was filmed on location in Abu Dhabi, Switzerland, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo and Australia.

Curriculum guidelines

Ian Thorpe: The Swimmer would be enjoyed by middle and senior secondary students in the following curriculum areas:

• Health and Physical Education
• Sports subjects
• Australian Biography
• Psychology