Thorpe in better timesChampion Swimmer Ian Thorpe retired today, announcing his decision to a packed press conference in Sydney.
This is an edited version of what he said:
"As of 2.53 on Sunday afternoon I decided I would not be swimming the world championships.
"I also made a very difficult decision that day that I am actually going to discontinue my professional swimming career.
"I'd been working towards this decision for quite some time. I'm a 24-year-old, and I'm only just 24 as well.
"I'm young enough to still see the new challenges and be able to accept them within my life.
"I'm also old enough now that I realise all of these accomplishments that have got me to this place in my life.
"I also know there is a lot of people out there that want me to keep swimming.
"I only hoped that I wanted to swim half as much as other people want me to.''
"One other thing happened in LA, as I got physically fit, my mind also got fit, I started asking a lot of questions.
