Ian Thorpe will tonight be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in Melbourne. With five gold medals to his credit, he is Australia's most successful Olympian ever. Thorpe turns 26 next Monday. His life spans ahead of him.

"I'm really happy where my career is taking me now, beyond swimming," he told the Australian media today after the former Olympic champion and current world record holder in the 400m freestyle jetted home from business in Los Angeles.

Another Ian will welcome Ian to the Hall of Fame: the ceremony will be performed by Ian Murray Rose, the Scottish-born Aussie 400m and 1,500m Olympic champion of 1956 (400m and 1,500m) and 1960 (400m).

Thorpe's choice of career highlights are that blistering opening night in Sydney 2000 and then retaining the 400m free crown four years on in Athens. Of that race, Thorpe recalled the circumstances under which he found himself in the race, with teammate Craig Stevens taking the second berth after the reiging champ false-started at Aussie trials but then dipping out to make way for the Thorpedo to have a tilt at history. Said Thorpe: "One of my friends willing to do something like that, it added a lot of pressure on me to perform. 

"It was expected of me to win. I took that on board, that expectation, and swum the race really emotionally. Given the circumstances, it was one of the worst races I ever swum, but one of the most joyous occasions. I felt that as much as I owed it to myself, I owed it to him for allowing me that opportunity. I was carrying that weight as well. It added to the strain. I'm proud that I got through that as well as I could, but part of me is still a little bit annoyed that I didn't swim faster."

It was fast enough, though. A thriller of a race with Grant Hackett and, as it turned out, a fitting end to the long duel between two of the all-time greats of swimming.