Hawke shared that Thorpe was a teammate of his for six years, and he was slightly nervous talking to him. “You’ve always made me nervous,” Hawke admitted. “I was nervous racing you and nervous being around you. You are a legend in my mind.”
He went on to praise Thorpe for the way he handled himself in the public eye. He regards him as the epitome of a champion. “When it comes to being a true champion, it comes down to having a respect for those who came before you that have inspired you to do what you do,” Thrope explained.
Thorpe opened up about being a young prodigy and having media attention at a young age. He was candid about all the three different stages of his career (which included what happened after the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens). “My career changed so significantly from being a swimmer to being something else,” he acknowledged. “I came out of the Athens Games and I actually wanted more out of my sport and I wanted more out of myself.”
He also listed Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband as his toughest competitor since he was the one that “challenged him the most,” especially from a sprint standpoint. On a humorous note, Thorpe revealed how Hawke was as a teammate. “You did very little training, which made me jealous, even though you were training for a totally different event,” Thorpe said.
Hawke expressed that it was an honor to be Thorpe’s teammate and shared that he learned a great deal from him.
Their inspirational podcast episode may be seen below:
Hawke is the Assistant Coach of the Los Angeles Current in the International Swimming Swimming (ISL), with Lenny Krayzelburg as General Manager.
Read More: Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos chatted with Ian Thorpe back in March of 2020.
