Thorpe will defend title

[Phantis]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_spor...rts/3627903.stm

Ian Thorpe has confirmed he will defend his Olympic 400 metres freestyle title at the Athens Olympics after team-mate Craig Stevens pulled out.

The Australian's hopes of defending his crown appeared to vanish when he was disqualified in the national trials.

But Stevens bowed to pressure to withdraw and offered Thorpe his place.

[aaronaugi1]

I firstly would like to point out that Craig Steven was put under no pressure

Ian Thorpe is one of the most famous swimmers ever to hit the pool, there is no doubting his qualitity, as this was shown in his domination at the Sydney games and also help Australia to its first mens 4x200 freestyle gold medal, betting the United States for the first time

His efforts in charity should be praised and i believe that he is in the top 5 of Australias best,(and must humble) atheletes ever

[maw21]

I firstly would like to point out that Craig Steven was put under no pressure

i would like to point out that this is a load of s%$#!.

mate, im not attacking you but that comment is absurd.

media pressure on Stevens was incredible. the public backlash against him was despicable.

im apalled as an australian what happened to stevens, if it was ANY other swimmer than Thorpe, it would have been a case of "bad luck champ".

but no, Thorpe is our golden boy.

im reminded of Orwell, and Animal Farm.

"all animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others".

Thorpe F***ed up, he should wear the consequence of his F*** up.....

this view might be controversial, but i take exception to the way stevens has been screwed by the media, the public and Thorpe has sat back and loved every second

[aaronaugi1]

Obviously he was put under some pressure by the media, but none by ian thorpe. Shortly after the race thorpe quoted that even if stevens pulled out, there was a great chance he would not take his spot or would not except it

I cant condem what he has done but i think a review of the rules should be completed. The excuse used by Australia swimming authorities was that they use the one start rule becuase they dont want to the event to run to long, to me, if someone is going to miss out on olympic gold or the olympics in gerneral, who really cares how long the event takes

[paokg4]

The australians are the most corrupted country in the olympics.

Thorpe got disqualified. Bad luck your out. What's this crap they put pressure on stevens to pull out so thorpe can compete to win a gold medal with corruption.

It's like saying Brasil coming out in the media and saying to the country that knocked them out of the Olympics in Soccer for this year to pull out so then they can compete.

It won't happen

What a disgrace the Australi are

[aaronaugi1]

How can you call Australia a discrace?

Craig Stevens made that call by him self, and said that he would rather focus on him main event being the 1500m and said he didnt really want to try out for the 400m in the frist place. Ian Thorpe is one of the greatest ever swimmers from ANY country and is praised in many countries around the world. Things like this have happended in other countries, but at a lesser scale, and nothing was made of it. I think that this story is being over rated.

And to call Australia a discrace is just simply stupid. lol. For a country that was founded by convicts and has only been a country for 100years look how far it has gone. In sport, in culture, art. A country with a population of only 18m has held the Olympics twice, has one of the strongest econimies in the world, has some of the highest living standards in the world, unique culture and art that is different to any other, a fine military, has had MANY sporting achviements, and has five of the worlds best quality cities. :box: :box: :box:

Not to say that your doesnt have all this, possibley more, but i dont think yuo should genrelize a WHOLE country in your comments