Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW Vol. 5 Num 884 Wed. November 22, 2006       Sports The Human Fish At A Glance Afp, Sydey The following is a list of key facts and career landmarks in the life of Australian Olympic legend Ian Thorpe, who on Tuesday announced his retirement from professional swimming. Ian James Thorpe, also known as the "Thorpedo", "Thorpie" or the "Human Fish" was born in Sydney on October 13, 1982. Over a nine-year career, he won nine Olympic medals -- including five gold, three silver and a bronze, becoming Australia's most decorated Olympian -- and scooped up 13 world championship medals. He holds three world records: the 200m with a time of 1:44.06, the 400m free long course -- an event which he has dominated since the start of his career -- at 3:40.08 and the 200m free short course at 1:41.10. He has broken a total of 13 individual long course world records. Thorpe has claimed 11 gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the world championships, and 10 gold and a silver at the Commonwealth Games. The strapping athlete is 1.95 meters (6 foot 5 inches) tall and is famed for his massive size 17 feet that help propel him through the water. In 1997, he became the youngest male swimmer to ever represent Australia when he competed in the Pan Pacific Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, coming second in the 400m. In 1998 he won the 400m freestyle at his first world championship in Perth and was also a member of the 4x200m freestyle relay team that won the event. Later that year he claimed four gold medals at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth games. In 2000, he smashed the world 200m freestyle record with a timing of 1:41.10 at the World Cup, Berlin In the 2000 Olympics in his home town of Sydney, he won three gold and two silver medals. In 2001, he claimed the 200m freestyle world record with a time of 1:44.06 at the world championships in Fukuoka, where he snatched six gold medals. He also won the 400m, 800m, 4x100m, 4x200m freestyle and the 4x100m medley. In 2002, he smashed the 400m freestyle world record at 3:40.08 at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester and took home six gold medals, including for the 400m, 200m and 100m freestyle. In 2002, he launched his own line of jewellery through Autore Pearls In 2003 he won the 200m and 400m freestyle events at the world championships in Barcelona. In 2003, he became an underwear model, lending his celebrity to an advertising campaign waged by a major maker of underwear. In the 2004 Athens Olympics, Thorpe's last international event, he won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze, and claimed the 200m freestyle in the race billed as the 'Race of the Century' as well as his second consecutive Olympic 400m freestyle title. In November 2006, he retired from competitive swimming at the age of 24.