When Ian Thorpe could not face training for one more day three weeks back, he turned for advice to Shane Gould, the triple Olympic champion of 1972 and fiance to Milt Nelms, the stroke guru working with the 2000 and 2004 Olympic champion.

"I worked out with him at Lillipilli Oval and at Caringbah, and off the jetty at his house," Gould told Nicole Jeffery at The Australian yesterday. "But where he was at in his head was beyond either of our skills."

Gould then put Thorpe in touch with a specialist career transition counsellor, Deidre Anderson, who she had interviewed for her thesis. Anderson set Thorpe a series of tasks to complete and questions to answer to clarify his thoughts.

Thorpe had already made it known publically that he had questioned whether to carry on in swimming "almost on a daily basis" at certain times.

Now he had to confront his demons. "It's a very, very dark question for me because swimming's provided a safety blanket," Thorpe told reporters. "It's been a security net for me, where, if I'm not certain about developing other sides of my life, I just fall straight back into swimming. With that question the first reaction was fear."

Anderson helped Thorpe to face his fears and work out what he wanted from his life. "I was forced to make a really difficult decision and be able to defend it," Thorpe told Jeffery.

Once his mind was made up - last Sunday at 2.53pm - he told his manager Dave Flaskas, family, coaches Tracey Menzies and Nelms.

By the time he strolled into the Sofitel Wentworth Hotel in Sydney to announce his decision to the world, he felt entirely comfortable with his decision, stating: "This is joyous for me," he said. "I don't want it to be a sombre moment."