PARIS, 30 December 2003 — Michael Phelps rose to the realms of stardom in 2003 by eclipsing Australian Ian Thorpe and leading the United States back to the summit of world swimming.
Setting the tone for next year’s Athens Olympics the teenager responded to jibes from his Australian rivals that he was “unproven” on the world stage by dominating the world championships in Barcelona.
He then went on to do the same at the US summer nationals and the short-course World Cup in Australia, and in the process replaced the Thorpedo as the dominating force in men’s swimming for 2003.
The 18-year-old from Baltimore helped the US turn the tables on Australia during the July world championships, where he was the top performer with three individual golds, two silver and became the first swimmer to set five world records at one meet including two in the same day.
American Ian Crocker beat him in the 100m butterfly in world record time, but at the US nationals in August, Phelps won five individual titles, and at the World Cup at the end of November, he swam six events and won them all. The US led Australia 11-6 in gold medals in Barcelona after trailing 13-9 in the 2001 world championships.
For the first time in five years Thorpe, who had been bidding to match his haul of six golds from the previous worlds in Japan, was pushed into a supporting role despite winning three world golds — two of them individual — along with a silver and bronze.
Thorpe changed coaches from his childhood mentor Doug Frost to Tracey Menzies last year looking to revitalize his training program ahead of the Barcelona world championships and 2004 Athens Olympics.
But after setting four world records of the 18 in total during his career at the 2001 worlds, the Thorpedo failed to a achieve one in Barcelona. Phelps has become the first man to own five US marks since Mark Spitz from 1972 to 1974.
And Spitz’s legacy will be Phelps’ target again in a year at the Athens Olympics when he has a $1 million incentive to try to match the legend’s record haul of seven gold medals from the 1972 Munich Games.
The US set eight of the 14 world records broken or equaled during the world championships. But despite claims by Thorpe that he doubted that the meet was drug free, no cases of the designer steroid THG were detected after FINA ordered retesting of samples taken at the world swimming championships. Both swimmers became the first to win three consecutive titles, Thorpe in the 400m and Hackett in the 1500m.
Russian sprint legend Alexander Popov also returned to force becoming the first swimmer to win three world titles in the 100m sprint; regaining his supremacy in the 50m, and leading Russia to their first 4x100m freestyle relay.
But the powerhouses of swimming did not have it all their own way this time out, with Germany’s Hannah Stockbauer, the top female performer at the world championships, taking three gold the 400m, 800m and 1500m.
And Kosuke Kitajima put Japan in the frame with a stunning breaststroke double and two world records, while Britain’s Katy Sexton and James Gibson broke their country’s 28-year duck.
