Hackett named Swimmer of the Year
Olympic champion and multiple world record holder Grant Hackett was named the Australian Swimmer of the Year at an award ceremony in Sydney last night, just days after undergoing career-saving shoulder surgery.
Hackett had his arm in a sling as he became the first athlete to win five categories on Australian swimming’s night of nights.
Hackett also took home the People’s Choice award as the public’s favourite swimmer, and the Swimmers’ Choice award voted for by members of the Australian team. The other two prizes were distance and middle distance freestyle awards.
The award marked a first outright Swimmer of the Year win for Hackett, who shared the accolade with Ian Thorpe two years ago.
The awards capped an incredible year for the 25-year-old swimmer who won three gold medals and broke the 800 metres freestyle world record at the World Championships in Montreal.
“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,” he said.
“It is disappointing not to be swimming at next year’s Commonwealth Games but my surgery went well last week,” he added.
But Hackett said he was confident of being in form in time for the next World Championships in 2007 and then the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
“The doctor tells me I will be back in the water in no time and 2007 is not that far way,” he said.
Other contenders for Swimmer of the Year were fellow world champions and world record holders Leisel Jones, Libby Lenton and Jess Schipper.
Lenton for her part carried home three awards - short course, female sprint freestyler and middle distance Swimmer of the Year.
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