Thorpedo is all right by me

Ok so I am not reallly Ms Current-Affairs 2006, and I rarely post about news items, because I'm scared if I started I would never stop - and you would be stuck for days reading my catatonic heartfelt weepy responses to Darfur, polar bears drowning, child abuse, materialism and the world of advertising, deforestation, and crappy crappy self-interested media folk.

But I have a pseudo news item to comment on. Here goes. Ahem..

Thorpe retires from swimming
Tuesday November 21, 2006

Australia's greatest-ever swimmer Ian Thorpe has quit, announcing in a press conference his intention to withdraw from professional competition.

In a prepared statement to the packed conference, Thorpe said his battle with sickness and the revelation that there was more to life than swimming had led to his decision.

'Although the 24-year-old said he felt intense pressure to continue swimming, that pressure was coming from others, not from himself.

"It would be dishonest to myself, and to everyone else, if I were to continue on that basis," he said. "I've reached all the dizzy heights of this sport — for all of that I'm extremely appreciative."'

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For those who have no idea what that was about, this guy is a swimmer, won squilions of medals at olympics and so on for Australia, been doing it since he was a wee lad, and has been the clean-cut, wholesome darling of the Australian celeb sportsperson following public. Recently there have been all these 'ohmygolly is that thorpy eating a hamburger??' articles in hideous trash mags, and people speculating about whether he's about to retire. And today he did.

And what's my point? Such that it is my point is this:
- I think Ian Thorpe seems like a nice guy, and I think recent photos of him show quite clearly that he hasn't been happy or well (check his eyes recently compared to pics from a few years ago)
- I think it's bizarre how a public can feel like they own someone just because they have been in the public eye (imagine if you had to announce at a press conference every time you felt like throwing in the towel and moving on to another job..)
- I think at 24 it's fantastic that he's got to the stage where he can identify the pressures from outside versus the quiet voice of preference from within - fantastic for anyone at any age!

I also think it's cool when people who happen to become famous try to do things for other people while they're there, and dig that he made this:
http://www.ianthorpesfountainforyouth.com.au/
which is especially interesting to me because supporting programs for indigenous Australians is not quite as vote-winning in white bread middle Australia as supporting kids with cancer or heart disease*, ie almost gauranteed to get no good press, such is the cringe worthy state of race relations in our lovely home, so strikes me as something that was generated by
a real sense of 'what needs doing' and not 'how can I add to my lovely public persona and make people like me more' which one sometimes has a niggling suspicion that some celebrity charity involvement is driven by**.

So I say 'good on ya thorpy, and good luck with whatever comes next.' Maybe we can make some room in the lotto house for him to come and hang out and plan his next stage along with the rest of us hey Betty Sue and Aunty B? (I would link to the blog there but am on a computer that is very gruff and wont let me make nice neat hyperlinks..). Maybe he can give swiming lessons to us down at the ocean, in return for room and board, when we are all tired from blogging and loungeroom dancing and need some sun and sand.

*not that I am suggesting for a second that kids with cancer isn't a horrible thing that should get lots of supoprt and care and is a worthy cause for well meaninged celebs, I'm just talking about what is more common here, what causes are seen as squeaky clean and celeb-worthy and good PR
** Or is that just me being a cynical bitch?