Grant Hackett
Encyclopedia
Grant Hackett OAM
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...

 (born 9 May 1980) is an Australian former swimmer most famous for winning the men's 1500 metres freestyle
Freestyle swimming
Freestyle is an unregulated swimming style used in swimming competitions according to the rules of FINA. The front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a freestyle race, as this style is generally the fastest...

 race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 in Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...

 in Athens. This achievement has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest distance swimmers in history. He also collected a gold medal in Sydney for swimming in the heats of the 4×200 m freestyle relay. He is well regarded for his versatility, and was formerly a long-time world record holder in the 1500 m and also in the 800 m freestyle, and 2nd and 4th in the 400 m and 200 m freestyle respectively. He has dominated the 1500 m event in the past decade, being undefeated in the event in finals from 1996 until the 2007 World Aquatics Championships
2007 World Aquatics Championships
The 2007 World Aquatics Championships or the XII FINA World Championships were held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 March to 1 April 2007...

. In total, he has won 10 World Championship gold medals.

Hackett was the captain of the Australian swimming team from the time the role was reintroduced in 2005, until his retirement in 2008.

Hackett works for the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

, often hosting Wide World of Sports. He is now working for Westpac
Westpac
Westpac , is a multinational financial services, one of the Australian "big four" banks and the second-largest bank in New Zealand....

 as a banker and has expressed interest in a possible future political career.

Swimming career

Hackett was born at Southport
Southport, Queensland
-Sport:The Southport Sharks Australian rules football club has a presence in the area, including a club and function centre.-Transport:The Broadwaterway is a foreshoreway that encourages pedestrians and cyclists to travel along the Broadwater foreshores of Southport.A ferry terminal is planned for...

 on the Gold Coast
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

 of Queensland. The son of a policeman and younger brother of an Ironman
Ironman Triathlon
An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation consisting of a swim, a bike and a marathon run, raced in that order and without a break...

 champion, he first achieved prominence on debut at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships, where he first won the 1500 meters. He also won the 400 m freestyle, recording his only international victory over the yet-to-be-famous Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...

 at the distance in international long course competition.

1998 World Championships

During the 1998 World Championships, he again won the 1500 m but was narrowly upset by Thorpe in the 400 m. He also combined with Thorpe, Michael Klim
Michael Klim
Michael Klim OAM is a Polish-born Australian swimmer. He was born in Gdynia. He was educated at the University High School, Melbourne and Wesley College, Melbourne where he is currently employed as the College's elite Head Coach of swimming...

 and Daniel Kowalski
Daniel Kowalski
Daniel Steven Kowalski is a former Australian middle- and long-distance swimmer specialising in freestyle events. He competed in the Olympic Games in 200 m, 400 m and 1,500 m individual freestyle events and in the 4x200 m freestyle relay...

 to win the 4×200 m freestyle relay, beginning a six-year winning streak in the event over the United States.
Event Results Time
Men's 400m Freestyle Silver Medal 3:46.44
Men's 1500m Freestyle Gold Medal 14:51.70
Men's 4×200m Freestyle Gold Medal 7:12.48


These results were replicated at the 1998 Commonwealth Games
1998 Commonwealth Games
The 1998 XVI Commonwealth Games were held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 11 September to 21 September 1998 making it the first Asian country to act as host and the last Commonwealth Games for the 20th century. A record 70 nations supplied 3638 athletes...

 in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

. From 1997 to 2007 he was unbeaten in the 1500 m, winning it at every major world competition, including the World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, Olympics, Commonwealth and Australian Championships.

In 1999, Hackett broke his first world record, unexpectedly breaking Giorgio Lamberti
Giorgio Lamberti
-Early life:Lamberti was born in Brescia, Lombardy.At six, he was advised to begin swimming to improve his light physique.-Career:At 17, in 1986, he won the first of his six Italian championships...

's 200 m freestyle world record while leading off his club relay team at the Australian Championships. That record was subsequently broken by Ian Thorpe in the same year at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, although Hackett himself bettered his old mark. Hackett himself claimed the 1500 m freestyle, and combined with Thorpe, Klim and Bill Kirby
Bill Kirby
William Ashley Kirby is an Australian swimmer who was competitive on an international level in the nineties and early 2000s...

 to break the world record in the 4×200 m freestyle.

2000 Summer Olympics

Entering the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Hackett was the overwhelming favourite in the 1500 m freestyle, and was also expected to help Thorpe take a quinella in the 200 m and 400 m events. However, due to a virus the two finished eighth and seventh respectively. He followed this with an extremely slow swim in the heats of the 4×200 m freestyle relay, and was dropped from the final quartet, being replaced by Todd Pearson
Todd Pearson
Todd Pearson is an Australian swimming champion, who was born in Geraldton, Western Australia. He started swimming on the advice of a doctor treating his asthma. Pearson was vice captain of Hale School in 1994 where he spent time in Faulkner House And St George House.He is no stranger to the...

. By the time the final of the 1500 m freestyle came, Hackett had qualified third behind sentimental favourite Kieren Perkins
Kieren Perkins
Kieren John Perkins OAM , is a former Australian professional swimmer. One of the world's best-ever long-distance swimmers, he won two Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996 in the 1500-metre freestyle, and a silver medal in 2000....

, who was being vocally cheered by the crowd. In the face of the immense pressure, Hackett adopted a more attacking, fast-starting approach, and managed to hang on to claim gold.

Over shorter distances, Hackett has been somewhat overshadowed by his fellow Australian Ian Thorpe
Ian Thorpe
Ian James Thorpe OAM , nicknamed the Thorpedo and Thorpey, is an Australian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, but also competes in backstroke and the individual medley. He has won five Olympic gold medals, the most won by any Australian, and with three gold and two silver medals, was the most...

; with his versatility over varying distances often unheralded. Despite this, he is a hugely popular figure in Australia. His extroverted personality is in sharp contrast with Thorpe's more reserved style, and is more in line with Australian expectations of sporting figures. His major interests outside swimming are playing the guitar and motor racing.

2001 World Championships

At the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka
Fukuoka, Fukuoka
is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture and is situated on the northern shore of the island of Kyushu in Japan.Voted number 14 in a 2010 poll of the World's Most Livable Cities, Fukuoka is praised for its green spaces in a metropolitan setting. It is the most populous city in Kyushu, followed by...

, Hackett was in the peak of his speed. He set personal bests in the 200 m, 400 m 800 m & 1500 m freestyle events, finishing second to Thorpe in both 400m & 800, and bettering the 800m world record in the latter. Along with Thorpe, Klim and Kirby, they bettered the previous world record in the 4×200 m freestyle. In the 1500 m, Hackett attacked immediately, and stayed well ahead of Perkins' world record, and with the crowd standing and willing him on, he broke the record by 7 seconds, to claim gold.
Event Results Time
Men's 400m Freestyle Silver Medal 3:42.51
Men's 800m Freestyle Silver Medal 7:40.34
Men's 1500m Freestyle Gold Medal 14:34.56 WR
Men's 4×200m Freestyle Gold Medal 7:04.66 WR

2003 World Championships

The 2003 World Championships in Barcelona, Hackett picked up 5 Medals, 3 gold, a silver and a bronze. Despite capturing individual medals in 200, 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle for the first time in an international meet, Hackett failed to break any personal best times let alone world records.
Event Results Time
Men's 200m Freestyle Bronze Medal 1:46.85
Men's 400m Freestyle Silver Medal 3:45.17
Men's 800m Freestyle Gold Medal 7:43.82
Men's 1500m Freestyle Gold Medal 14:43.14
Men's 4×200m Freestyle Gold Medal 7:08.58

2004 Summer Olympics

At 196 cm (six foot five) and 89.8 kg (198 pounds), Hackett won the gruelling 1500 meters race by sheer physical strength and stamina. He showed this in Sydney when he won despite having only partly recovered from illness, and again in Athens, when he survived challenges from swimmers (Larsen Jensen
Larsen Jensen
Larsen Alan Jensen is a former American freestyle swimmer. He is a two-time Olympic medalist.-Career:...

 and David Davies
David Davies (swimmer)
David Davies is a Welsh Commonwealth Games and Olympic distance swimmer. Born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Davies swam for Wales at the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games and represented Great Britain at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics...

) both six years his junior to hang on to win the race, despite a partially collapsed lung. This came after a solid swim in the 400 m to claim silver behind Thorpe, and a lackluster performance in the individual 200m,
followed by a unconvincing swim in the lead-off leg of the 4×200 m relay, when he was 1.66 seconds off his best. His sluggish heat swim placed him third, raising concerns within the Australian camp. After the Olympics, it was revealed that one of his lungs was partially collapsed, leaving his total lung capacity diminished by 25%.

2005 World Championships

In 2005, Swimming Australia introduced the concept of a captain for the swimming team. Hackett was awarded this honour, and led Australia in the World Championships at Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada. He won gold medals in the 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle (silver in the 200m freestyle), the first person ever to achieve this feat, along with the only swimmer to medal in 4 distances in a single world championships. His victory in the 800 m event broke Thorpe's world record, and his 1500 m victory saw him become the first to win an event four times at a World Championships. He ancored the 4x200 team to bronze with a split of 1:44.84, making him the second fastest performer in relay splits. He was named as FINA's Male swimmer of the meet. He was named as the Australian Swimmer of the Year in 2005, and was also named the Swimmer of the Year by the Swimming World magazine.
Event Results Time
Men's 200m Freestyle Silver Medal 1:46.14
Men's 400m Freestyle Gold Medal 3:42.91
Men's 800m Freestyle Gold Medal 7:38.65 WR
Men's 1500m Freestyle Gold Medal 14:42.58
Men's 4×200m Freestyle Bronze Medal 7:10.59


In November 2005, Hackett announced his withdrawal from the 2006 Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...

 due to being unavailable for the selection trials because of a minor surgery to correct a shoulder injury. However, he was given dispensation to act as a non-competing captain in order to mentor the fellow swimmers in the lead-up to the competition.

In late 2006, Hackett relocated to Melbourne due to personal reasons. He attributed his disrupted preparation to adjusting with his new regime. Prior to the 2007 World Aquatics Championships
2007 World Aquatics Championships
The 2007 World Aquatics Championships or the XII FINA World Championships were held in Melbourne, Australia from 17 March to 1 April 2007...

, he presented a pessimistic outlook of his prospects.

2007 World Championships

He qualified last in the 400 m event, but led in the final before fading in the last lap to take the bronze medal. He qualified fifth in the 800 m event, but finished seventh, more than ten seconds behind the winner. In the 1500 m final Hackett came seventh, ending his decade long unbeaten streak in the event.
Event Results Time
Men's 400m Freestyle Silver Medal 3:45.43
Men's 800m Freestyle 6th 7:55.39
Men's 1500m Freestyle 7th 14:59.59


In December 2007, Hackett competed in and won his first National Championship 10 km Open Water race. By barely edging out veteran open-water swimmer and Ironman Triathlete Ky Hurst
Ky Hurst
Ky Hurst is an Australian swimmer and ironman. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the 10km marathon swimming event and finished in 11th place, after qualifying by finishing fifth at the 2008 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championship.He won a silver medal at the 1998 World Aquatics...

, the pair both qualified for the World Championships in Seville, Spain. However, Hackett failed to finish in the top 10 in this event, and therefore missed out on qualifying for the 10 km open water swim at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He was also criticised for appearing to be overweight after the event, a claim that he rejected as "ridiculous".

At the 2008 Victorian Short Course Swimming Championships, his final Australian meet before departing for the Olympics, Hackett broke his own 800 metres freestyle world record – lowering the mark by almost two seconds to 7:23.42.

2008 Olympics

Though Hackett failed to qualify for the 10,000m; he succeeded in other events. He swam the 400m and 1500m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay. In the 1500m he finished second, winning the silver medal behind Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

n Oussama Mellouli
Oussama Mellouli
Oussama "Ous" Mellouli is a Tunisian swimmer who competes in the freestyle and medley events. He currently is an African Record holder, and trains with the USA club based at the University of Southern California, where he went to school and swam, collegiately....

. Had he won, he would have been the first male swimmer to win three successive Olympic titles in the same event, an opportunity denied to two-time Olympic 1500m champion Vladimir Salnikov
Vladimir Salnikov
Vladimir Valeryevich Salnikov is a Russian former swimmer who competed for the USSR and set 12 world records in the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,500-meter freestyle. Nicknamed a "monster in the waves", he was the first man to swim under fifteen minutes in the 1500-meter freestyle...

 due to the 1984 Summer Olympics communist boycott
1984 Summer Olympics boycott
The boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. The boycott was a follow up to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The boycott involved 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies, led by the Soviet Union who initiated the boycott on May 8, 1984, and joined...

. Hackett won the individual 200m freestyle swim at the Olympic trials but as he was not seeking a berth in the event he handed his spot in the Olympic competition in this event to the third place finisher at the trials, Nicholas Sprenger
Nicholas Sprenger
Nicholas Sprenger is an Australian middle distance freestyle swimmer, who won a silver medal in the 4x200 m freestyle relay at the 2004 Athens Olympics....

.
Event Results Time
Men's 400m Freestyle 6th 3:43.84
Men's 1500m Freestyle Silver Medal 14:41.53
Men's 4×200m Freestyle Bronze Medal 7:04.98

Career Best Times

Hackett has set quite a number of world records both short course and long course. His world records in the 1500 meter (long course and short course) and 800 meter short course were the only male world records that survived the 2008/2009 release of the high tech Polyurethane suits.
Long Course Personal bests
Event Time Record
200m Freestyle 1:45.61 Former WR Holder 2004
400m Freestyle 3:42.51 2001
800m Freestyle 7:38.65 Former WR Holder 2005
1500m Freestyle 14:34.56 Former WR Holder 2001
4x200m Freestyle 7:04.66 Former WR Holder 2001
Short Course Personal bests
Event Time Record
200m Freestyle 1:42.48 2003
400m Freestyle 3:34.56 Former WR Holder 2003
800m Freestyle 7:23.42 WR 2008
1500m Freestyle 14:10.10 WR 2001
4x200m Freestyle 6:52:66 Former WR Holder 2007

Media career

Hackett is currently contracted to the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

, having previously worked with the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

.

In October 2008, Hackett joined Nine News Melbourne as the weekend sport presenter, replacing Heath O’Loughlin
Heath O’Loughlin
Heath O'Loughlin is a former weekend sports presenter and reporter for Nine News Melbourne.At the end of 2006, O'Loughlin moved from the Seven Network to the Nine Network to replace Leith Mulligan as weekend sport presenter, with Mulligan moving to Fox Sports News...

. However in November 2009, Nine announced that Hackett will no longer continue as weekend sports presenter, though, he will continue with the network but in other capacities.

Personal life

On 14 April 2007, Hackett married Australian singer Candice Alley
Candice Alley
Candice Marie Giannarelli, better known as Candice Alley is an Australian singer-songwriter of Australian/Italian descent. She married Australian swimming captain Grant Hackett on 14 April 2007....

.

In March 2009, Hackett announced that his wife was expecting twins and in September she gave birth to Jagger and Charlize.

He has a Diploma of Commerce/Law and a Diploma of Financial Services and is currently undertaking an Executive MBA at Bond University
Bond University
Bond University is a private university located in Robina, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is also the first private university established in Australia...

.

On 29 October 2011, police were called to attend a dispute at Hackett and Alley's Melbourne apartment, which was reportedly found in disarray. The couple did not publicly elaborate on the events of the evening, however Hackett admitted shortly afterwards to being "overwhelmingly embarrassed" by his behaviour.

External links

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