Hackett’s clean sweep
THIS is the year Grant Hackett finally came into his own, as the Telstra Swimmer of the Year awards confirmed in Sydney last night.
Australia team captain Hackett became the first athlete in the 16-year history of the awards to claim all three top prizes - Swimmer of the Year, the coveted Swimmers’ Swimmer (voted by his peers in the national team) and the People’s Choice award.
The big Queenslander collected a total of five awards (including best male middle distance and distance freestyler) with his right shoulder in a sling after arthroscopic surgery last week for inflammation in the joint.
Due to the injury, Hackett will miss the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March.
After nine years at the pinnacle of world swimming, this is the first time that the dual Olympic 1500m champion has claimed the ultimate award on his own. He shared it with his friend, rival and regular nemesis Ian Thorpe in 2003.
But, in Thorpe’s absence from competition this year, Hackett revealed all his inspirational qualities to lead the national team to its best performance at the world championships (13 gold medals) in Montreal.
Hackett claimed three of those, becoming the first man to win the 400m, 800m, 1500m treble at the world championships. Even more impressively, he demolished Thorpe’s 800m freestyle record.
He also became the most decorated swimmer in championship history, with a career total of 17 medals, and first to win four consecutive 1500m titles.
Hackett was selected as Swimmer of the Year from a field which mirrored the superb young women’s team. The other contenders included fellow world champions Leisel Jones, Libby Lenton and Jessicah Schipper.
“This is the icing on what has been a year of highs in Montreal and a year which has presented itself with yet another challenge,” Hackett said.
“The memories of Montreal were awesome. To captain the team and to achieve what I achieved in the pool was something I will never forget.”
Lenton, who won five medals in Montreal (three gold and two silver), was the other big winner at the awards night.
She received three gongs - best female short course swimmer and the best female sprint and middle distance freestyler of the year.
Stephan Widmer, who coaches Lenton and Jones, shared coach of the year honours with Hackett’s mentor Denis Cotterell.
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