Yesterday Australia's most famous swimmer Ian Thorpe announced his decision to retire from competition at the age of 24. Five times Olympic and 11 times world champion gold medallist, Ian Thorpe belonged to the Australian team since he was fourteen. His decision brings an end to one of the most dazzling careers in Australian sporting history. See how ABC online reports the news.And to illustrate the passion of Australians for swimming, here is a view I took last week of the Bondi Icebergs pool. The club, which has a fantastic clubhouse overlooking Bondi beach, is big on the social scene and sometimes humorously referred to as 'a drinking place with a pool' but in fact is also home to a remarkably active winter swimming club. It is open to men and women of all ages, with one criterion: to be a full swimming member you must swim three out of four Sundays for a period of five years. How's that for commitment? The water gets pretty cold in winter!
Nageur solitaire. Le champion de natation australien Ian Thorpe a annoncé hier à Sydney sa décision de se retirer de la compétition à l'âge de 24 ans. Titulaire de cinq médailles d'or olympiques et de onze titres de champion du monde, il met ainsi fin à l'une des plus impressionnantes carrières sportives que l'Australie ait connues. Il nageait dans l'équipe australienne depuis l'âge de quatorze ans.
Pour illustrer la passion des australiens pour la natation, je vous offre cette vue de la piscine des Bondi Icebergs prise la semaine dernière. Pourvu d'un clubhouse somptueux surplombant la plage de Bondi, ce club où il faut être vu est parfois qualifié avec humour de 'bar avec piscine', mais il héberge en fait un club de natation hivernale très sérieux : pour gagner le titre membre nageur actif, il faut y nager trois dimanches sur quatre pendant cinq ans. Ca force le respect ! La mer est froide pendant l'hiver...
22 comments:
Excellent, cette piscine sans fin avec son unique nageur... et ces diverses teintes de bleu!
Ian Thorpe - a great athlete..
great photo Nathalie. that's sad news for Australian sport, i hope you have somebody as good to replace him.
come over to TDP to see what kind of debris we have on our beach =)
Love the way you have the pool and the sea interacting
What an amazing place to have a pool. I love the stillness of the pool and the ocean waves splashing over the edge.
I agree with Jazzy, I hope a new star will take his place.
Photo magnifique. Dommage pour la natation que Thorpe arrete, c'etait l'un des plus grands. Sais tu qu'il a faillit faire partie des victimes du 11 septembre. Il etait partie pour visiter les "Twin Towers" quand arrive aux tours, il s'est rendu compte qu'il avait oublie son appareil photo. comme quoi la vie tient a peu de chose.
Splendid photograph. Damage for swimming that stopped Thorpe, it was one of largest. You know that it A failed to belong to the victims of September 11. It had left to visit “Twin Towers” when arrives at the turns, it realized that it had forgets its camera. as what the life holds little thing has.
So is the pool filled by the waves ?
Oh Nathalie, this is beautiful... can I move to Sidney, do you have a spare room?
One thing I really love about your photography is the perspective. You always manage to the the photo taken at the most powerful angle.
Wow, Awesome, Gnarly!
We all love Ian Thorpe - such a lovely young man. Everyone I know wishes him well. I have taken my son swimming at the public pool where Ian trained, and he was always so unassuming and normal....my son waited til after trainign and went and got his autograph one time and he was just so charming. That was straight after the Athens Olympics when he could have just had a huge swelled head, and didn't.
Ta for the links, Nathalie. There's a message for you on the bloggers forum, by the way.
I heard about him before..and about the event you posted on the NEWS yesterday. But I never seen such a special pool:)
Absolutely adore this photo! I love swimming and want to dive straight from your camera into the blue... probably wouldn't get far enough would i! All that gorgeous water, the contrast between the calm of the pool with its lone swimmer and the endless energy of crashing waves in the sea. Love it. It's my wallpaper today.
Interesting juxtaposition of the sea and pool. You must have taken this shot from a great height! Sally also has a pool shot today.
:)
knew this guy before...and heard this news today too.
so pity!!
but health is much more important as i think.
and so blue water.
oo...yes, i should add another one of my dream: i have a dream that one day i could swim like Thorpe!
:D
...jing from shanghai
wow, that's the sea water running into the swimming pool...nice capture!
love swimming:) even miss it more now...retiring at 24 sounds good! He must have a great retirement plan;)
Great Photo. I read about Ian Thorpe yesterday, was sad to hear that he would no longer compete. Thanks for stopping by my site. :-)
Can you imagine retirement at 24? I was still figuring out what to do with my life ;-)
Great shot - love the 2 shades of water!
He looked a bit tired in the press conference, I thought. This is a fantastic setting for a pool, though.
Moi je veux bien me contenter d'y être nageur inactif...
alors ca, imparfait present, c'est absolument impossible!... les piscines ici en Australie sont reservees aux nageurs, je dirais meme emerites. pas de place pour les barboteurs et on vous regarde de travers si vous ne "tracez" pas et ralentissez le rythme de la ligne!...
la photo est incroyable!
t'exposes sur Sydney???
Meme moi qui n'aime pas la piscine, la je suis motivée
thanks for taking a pic of this breathtaking shot and sharing it - very interesting - I did not know he retired - he was an amazing swimmer! I have videos of his swim underwater. I am showing our new head coach of canoe kayak your amazing picture - she is from the Gold Coast Australia
I wish I could swim in this pool!!!
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