Australian Swimmer Grant Hackett and his athletic career (Part I)
Born on the 9th of May 1980, Grant Hackett is the most famous and celebrated Australian swimmer. He is most popularly known for the men’s 1500 metre freestyle race at the biggest sport events of the world, the Summer Olympics of Athens and Sydney which took place in 2004 and 2000 respectively. On account of his achievements in these two Olympic Games, he is celebrated as one of the greatest marathon swimmers in the history of Australian swimming.
The great athlete also managed to clinch the gold medal for winning the heats of the 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay in Sydney. Grant has been the world record holder in the long distance races such as the 1500 metre and 800 metre freestyle races. Moreover, the Australian swimmer also managed to establish him the 2nd and the 4th ranked swimmer in the 400 metre and 200 metre freestyle races respectively. Hackett has the world record of being the invincible freestyle swimmer in 1500 metre meets for over a decade. The world record set by Grant in the 1500 metre freestyle races was met by some athletes in the 2007 World Aquatics Championships. Grant has won a total of 10 gold medals at the World Championships. He is the only swimmer who managed to win all the four events that he participated in, in the World Championships. This achievement of Grant’s also won him a title in the event.
Grant Hackett headed the team representing Australia in all the international mega events that took place from 2005 till 2008. The athlete retired from the sport in 2008, and is currently rendering his services as a banker in Westpac.
Grant Hackett was born in the Golden Coast of Queensland at Southport. His first swimming performance was at the Pan Pacific Championships in 1997, where he won the 1500 metre freestyle race and also won a gold medal in the 400 metre freestyle event that followed. These were his first steps towards becoming the best long distance swimmer of Australia.
In the year that followed his debut performance at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, 1998, he again won the 1500 metre freestyle event at the 1998 World Swimming Championships. However, he was defeated by a narrow margin in the 400 metre freestyle event. Grant formed a team with Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Daniel Kowalski in the 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay at these world championships. The Australian team held off the American swimmers and won the event with a gold medal.
Somewhat similar results were observed in the Commonwealth Games that took place in Kuala Lumpur in the same year. The undefeated swimmer from 1997 to 2007 won the 1500 metre freestyle race at the Commonwealth Games. Besides this, the great Australian swimmer set world records in the 1500 metre freestyle race at some of the biggest international sports events including the World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, Olympics and the Commonwealth Championships. The year that followed also saw the victory of Grant Hackett. In 1999, the Australian swimmer surpassed the world record mark for the first time in the 200 metre freestyle at the national event known as the Australian Championships where he led the Australian relay.
Grant entered the summer Olympics of 2000 at Sydney with great enthusiasm. He was the most popular Australian swimmer at that time and the response that he got while swimming the 200 metre and 400 metre races was just spectacular. He won both the events, followed by the heats of the 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay. However, Grant did not contend in the final of the event and was replaced by Todd Pearson. When he came competed in the 1500 metre freestyle race at the Olympics, he had to face severe competition from Kieren Perkins, who was being cheered overwhelmingly. Grant managed to survive the pressure in the pool, swam hard, struggled through the waters, and thus was successful in taking away the gold medal in the event.
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