Hackett ever in the wake of the Thorpedo
Grant Hackett. The name says strong jaw, Hollywood, sunshine, the sea. It says mate, hero, winner. And he is - a multiple winner. He is the current Olympic, world, world short-course, PanPacific, Commonwealth and Australian champion at 1,500m. And the world record holder at 14.34.56. He is also the second fastest Australian of all time in the 200m, 400m, and 800m freestyle.
And that is the one downer. The man who stands over him has the biggest shadow in swimming, a man who wants to be remembered as the greatest freestyler of all and who probably already is that: Ian Thorpe.
The shadow fell again last night, as it had in the 400m on Tuesday. Hackett won the silver comfortably, again as he had on Tuesday. When Thorpe walks on to the poolside in his ankle-to-neck black body suit he looks like one of those bendy toys with out-of-proportion limbs that you get from a cracker.
Hackett looks like the conventional perfect swimmer - a “V” shape in rubber. The problem is that when Thorpe kicks Hackett just cannot stay with him. Though Hackett is smooth, Thorpe is smoother. Tonight it was only a games record but already Thorpe has three golds safely around his neck.
It was not always the way - when they first emerged on the scene Hackett had the upper hand. But as Thorpe began to realise his full potential a superhuman and an industry were born. Where Hackett appears on Burke’s Backyard, Thorpe is on Friends. Where Hackett is on the side of cereal packets, Thorpe is on billboards worldwide. As Hackett said yesterday: “I’m swimming times no one else in the world can swim and finishing second. It sucks.” But this was with a smile; they are great friends. It says a lot for Hackett, and Thorpe. But Hackett is used to it. He first had to contend with Kieren Perkins - Australian golden boy of the 1,500m.
Hackett loves garlic - first thing in the morning last thing at night. But though it might ward away vampires, it does not have the same effect on Thorpedos. And maybe it never will.
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