Rooney: There was certainly no tantrum. Even in that most bizarre moment,Thorpey kept his cool. My level of respect for him was through the roof.
Ian Hanson (Swimming Australia media manager): It was all hands on deck for us. The phone was ringing. Word got around Thorpey heard a noise. We spent a lot of time in the broadcast stand listening to what we could hear.
Lesley Tapsall (executive producer of Nine’s coverage): We were in the van and saw this black image fall in the pool. I ran into the pool. People were coming at us. A Swimming Australia official said,“we’re going to have to take a look at what you’ve got.” Poor Tracey[Menzies] was trying to find a noise. Five of us were in the hut. They couldn’t find it. It was astonishing to be there. The look on Hackett’s face said it all.
![Grant Hackett looks on as Ian Thorpe is disqualified.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/e2361a1c9e47719ffbe6d71cf46b760a213cfac6)
Grant Hackett looks on as Ian Thorpe is disqualified.Credit:Channel Nine
Menzies: I knew I needed to move Ian away and make sure he was OK. We went through the whole spectrum of emotions. We just needed to move on and make the team in the 100m and 200m freestyle. We needed to park it but everyone wanted the circus to keep going.
David Mason (Swimming Australia media manager): It was my birthday that day. My daughter[Matilda] was three. I said to Hanso I might bring Matilda out for the heats because nothing ever happens in the heats. I was going to go out for lunch between heats and finals with my daughter and wife. Ian fell in the pool and it certainly changed my day. Ian was eventually ready to leave the pool a few hours later. He wanted to avoid the cameras that day. Hanso and Leigh Nugent went out the front door and did a media stand-up. I had my bombed-up Ford Telstar parked out the back[as a getaway car]. It was me and Tracey in the front seat. Ian was in the back with[Matilda]. He was just chatting to Matilda as if nothing happened. He asked how her day was. Matilda said:“Well,you’ve actually ruined it because I was supposed to go out for lunch with my Dad.” Thorpey laughed. As we left the back entrance,we thought it’d be quiet but there were six or seven cameras there. We went out the gates and instead of taking the road,drove through a park near the athletics centre to Thorpey’s hotel. It was a hell of a couple of days.
![Craig Stevens,Simon Cowley (back turned) and Ian Thorpe share a conversation.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/0fe0feb8d734275cd9155d489ceeb73677e2d304)
Craig Stevens,Simon Cowley (back turned) and Ian Thorpe share a conversation.Credit:Craig Golding
All eyes on Stevens
That evening,with Thorpe watching on in the stands,Hackett won the 400m freestyle final in a time of three minutes,43.35 seconds. Stevens finished in second place (3:48.08) and under the qualifying time.
Days later,Stevens also qualified for the 1500m freestyle,which was considered his best event. Thorpe was extra careful on the blocks before winning the 200m freestyle – he was the world record-holder in this event – to book his ticket to Athens.
A potential scenario emerged. Thorpe could swim the 400m freestyle if Stevens agreed to give up his spot.
It was a debate that dominated the media. Everyone had an opinion,including the prime minister.
![Ian Thorpe watches the final of the men’s 400m freestyle.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/4fd4e1db610bb44ed58bfa362d33d59f55a22965)
Ian Thorpe watches the final of the men’s 400m freestyle.Credit:Craig Golding
“I think it’s a tragedy that arguably one of the greatest swimmers this country has produced is not going to be performing for his country in his prime event,” Howard said in a television interview.
After dozens of interview requests,Stevens hired a manager – he’d never had one before – as public pressure mounted on the 23-year-old.
Hanson: He wasn’t being hawked around. People were ringing and making offers.
Stevens: Every morning at the pool,there were camera crews. There were people knocking on my parents’ door asking questions. That hit home a bit. I didn’t want my mum and dad pestered. The sooner it was over,the sooner people could be left alone,including Ian. I needed to let him know.
![Craig Stevens trains at the Australian Institute of Sport before giving up his spot to Thorpe.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/3080d0583de56cf96e5de4e264a8dbd0c29e45fd)
Craig Stevens trains at the Australian Institute of Sport before giving up his spot to Thorpe.Credit:Penny Bradfield
Cowley: Every former swimming great had voiced their opinion.
Thorpe: It was a really difficult time. Craig was in a horrible position. I blocked it out of my mind to the extent that I wasn’t even willing to take a position in the 400. It took Craig a bit of time to actually come to that decision. I didn’t talk to him about it. I didn’t want to give him my opinion. It was a decision he had to make. He was encouraged to swim by coaches at the AIS[Australian Institute of Sport] and other people. I remember we went on a trip away to the South Coast to get away from everyone’s opinion and that glaring eye that looks over you.
Menzies: When Craig made it for the 1500m,that’s when the noise really ramped up. You’d go to the supermarket and people would make comments. It was a very difficult time for Craig and Ian. We trained at a public pool,so members of the public were coming up and asking,“what’s going to happen?” Even John Howard came out and said we need him to swim. Really? We’ve got to that level? That’s the beauty of sport.
![Ian Thorpe and his coach,Tracey Menzies.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/7c7e58562459cdca3761fbf402c7707af830ccf1)
Ian Thorpe and his coach,Tracey Menzies.Credit:Craig Golding
It is widely assumed that Stevens was always going to withdraw. According to Nugent,that was not necessarily the case.
Nugent:[Stevens’ coach] Glenn Beringen came to me after the final ... and said,“we won’t be withdrawing from this event”. I thought to myself – and I’ve never shared this with anyone – if he doesn’t withdraw from this event,he’s going to wear this for the rest of his life. He’ll go into a pub as a 40-year-old and there’ll be someone saying,“you’re the guy that stopped Thorpey”. It would be totally unfair.
Rooney: I don’t think we as fellow athletes rallied around Craig enough in hindsight.
The tell-all TV interview
After a month of deliberating,Stevens made his decision and agreed to a paid television interview with Channel Seven on theirToday Tonight program.
Stevens was reportedly paid between $60,000 and $130,000 for the interview in late April that year,less than four months before the Olympics. He was criticised in some sections of the media for taking a payment,while others believed he was entitled to the money to tell his story.
![Olympian Craig Stevens.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/d24e3f87b2ec1fb1a7d5933dd31835ccd97ae8d5)
Olympian Craig Stevens.Credit:Craig Golding
The whole country was ready to find out.
Anna Coren,who conducted the interview,and her bosses at Seven did not know what Stevens had decided until the cameras started rolling at the Ainslie Football Club in Canberra.
Stevens’ training partner,Sarah Ryan,said at the time,“he was in tears because of the way the media have been going on about it”.
Stevens: At times I wasn’t my normal self. Sarah probably saw that as something I had on my mind. Thinking about it now,I wonder if I did it the right way[with a paid interview]. There were people in our ears all the time. I just thought why not? I let Ian know first before it was all done. It was a bit surreal. People were making their opinions and telling me if I was doing the right thing or not. I owed it to Ian because of what he did for me over the years. It could have been a good thing for me to swim that 400 to settle my nerves going into Athens. When he was 15,in 1997,he trained with myself and a few others at Sutherland. I never would have made a team without training with him and[Thorpe’s then-coach] Doug Frost. I had two other events. People still think I didn’t go to those Olympics. It was a perfect scenario.
Nugent: I didn’t get a sniff at all. There was no indication he was going to pull out.
![Australian head coach Leigh Nugent fronts the media.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/4164f243dfce8802e90800ef717bf73d90f8b62b)
Australian head coach Leigh Nugent fronts the media.Credit:Mark Baker
Klim: If I was in Craig’s position,I probably would have done the same.
Suddenly,the pressure turned to Thorpe,ahead of a race he was expected to win given his mate’s grand gesture.
Thorpe: Craig had said to me:“The reason that I’m giving up the swim is because of you and what this does for the team. We’re used to seeing you win this race and that lifts everyone for the rest of the meet.” For me,it was not just a level of expectation to perform,it was an expectation to win. I had been focusing on shorter events. It’s the first time I’ve swum a race actually having some doubts in my preparation. I was most definitely feeling the pressure going into that race.
![The front page of the Sydney Morning Herald on April 27,2004.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/4241225641d40c9a5c12efa6769fb96c9acb3b5a)
The front page of the Sydney Morning Herald on April 27,2004.Credit:SMH
Menzies: It spoke volumes about the person Craig is. He got nothing out of this. I don’t think there’s many in sport today that would step down. I don’t think any athlete – maybe Cathy Freeman in Sydney – has had pressure on their shoulders like Ian did. That’s probably the hardest thing I’ve had to coach.
Thorpe’s time to shine
Thorpe arrived in Athens having not lost a 400m freestyle final for six years.
The scrutiny was intense,even for a seasoned campaigner who’d been thrust into the spotlight as a teenager.
![Ian Thorpe (right) at a press conference ahead of the Athens Olympics with teammates Matt Welsh and Leisel Jones](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/74c70b158ef7367b2ca6bfb00facca3fc4cb68e1)
Ian Thorpe (right) at a press conference ahead of the Athens Olympics with teammates Matt Welsh and Leisel JonesCredit:Craig Golding
After a late challenge from Hackett in the dying stages of the final,Thorpe touched the wall in first place,just 0.26 seconds clear of his Aussie teammate.
The time of 3:43.10 seconds was not a world record but Thorpe could not have cared less. His reaction said it all.
Thorpe: Right up to the race … I’m at the peak level of anxiety. I can go either way. After the 400,I am relieved. I then felt I could start the Olympics.
Stevens: You saw at the end of the race how emotional he was. It would have been playing on his mind. It was just such a good thing to see that kind of pressure off him.
![Ian Thorpe appears to shed a tear after his victory in the 400m freestyle in Athens.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/9013c28d01b464c687ed22c1d90fd97cd600eee5)
Ian Thorpe appears to shed a tear after his victory in the 400m freestyle in Athens.Credit:Craig Golding
Menzies: I got to sit with Craig the night Ian raced. I actually get emotional thinking about it because … if there was anyone you were going to sit near that night,that was the one I needed to sit near. Ian doesn’t like to let people down. He wasn’t swimming it for him. He was swimming it for everyone else. It was sheer relief when he finished. It was done. He just looked hurt.
Stevens: When Ian decided he wanted to have Tracey as a coach ... that was a big thing for her to step up. Sorry. I’m getting a bit emotional talking about. Trace went through a lot ...[around] having to prove yourself to be able to coach an athlete like Ian. It was good to see her get that recognition. The way she has been treated now by a lot of people is pretty poor. We went through a lot together. If Tracey was in the same position now ... she would be put on a pedestal but that never happened.
Rooney: I’ve never seen Thorpey show that level of emotion after an individual race. It was extraordinary.
Nugent: In that race,Ian probably did feel the pressure. It showed what a true champion Ian was. To go one-two gave us a massive lift right from the start.
Cowley: I asked him at the post-race press conference if there was a tear when he touched the wall. He denied it. Maybe it was a splash,but look at the vision or the photos. You can see what it meant.
![Craig Stevens in the stands in Athens.](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/01cb55bfb5f31777709b8f833a83ad517068fc6a)
Craig Stevens in the stands in Athens.Credit:Craig Golding
Hanson: I walked him from the end of the mixed zone to the warm-down pool. There were some stairs and he was as wobbly as anything. He almost collapsed a couple of times.[Russian swimmer] Alex Popov walked past and said:“That was amazing,one of the most incredible things I’ve seen.” Thorpey just said,“it’s the last 400 I’ll ever do”. I’ll never forget that as long as I live.
Life goes on
Stevens won a silver medal at those Olympics as part of Australia’s 4x200m freestyle relay team. He competed at the 2006 Commonwealth Games – ironically,as a replacement for Thorpe,who pulled out due to illness – before picking up a bronze medal in the 800m freestyle at the 2007 world championships.
However,Oussama Mellouli from Tunisia failed a drug test and was stripped of his gold medal,meaning Stevens was upgraded to silver.
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Stevens sent his bronze medal back,expecting to get a silver in return. Both medals got lost. He has nothing to show for that performance,just a memory.
Now married with kids,Stevens wouldn’t change a thing.
“Craig’s always been this unsung hero,” Menzies says. “He’s a quiet achiever and humble man. I have a lot of time for Craig.”
Stevens added:“We all moved on and things worked out. It’s just good to be able to reminisce.”
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