Hackett scoops prize pool at awards ceremony
GRANT Hackett has become the first competitor to win the triple crown at the Australian swimmer of the year awards. Hackett last night was named the swimmer of the year, swimmers’ swimmer of the year and people’s choice swimmer of the year.
It was the first time Hackett has won the swimmer of the year award outright, having shared the prize with Ian Thorpe in 2003. Hackett also won the distance and middle-distance freestyle awards.
Few could argue with the results, given Hackett’s stellar 2005 in which the 25-year-old won three golds and broke the 800 metres freestyle world record at the world championships in Montreal.
Hackett won the swimmer of the year award from fellow world champions and world record-holders Leisel Jones, Libby Lenton and Jess 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,” said Hackett, who recently has been ruled out of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games because of shoulder surgery. “. . . My surgery went well last week,” he said. “The doctor tells me I will be back in the water in no time and 2007 is not that far way.”
Lenton, also carried home three awards - shortcourse, female sprint freestyler and middle-distance swimmer of the year.
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