Paul Weaver Reports on Australian Swimmer Ian Thorpe

Some time in the next three weeks Britain will catch up with the rest of the planet and realise that it has a sensation in its midst.

In his native Australia Ian Thorpe, who is likely to be the outstanding athlete in Manchester's Commonwealth Games starting next Thursday, already has his famous size-17 feet inside the pantheon.

In Japan and China he is deified. Even in America, the dear old blinkered, insular US, he is looked upon with gape-mouthed awe. In New York the International Athletic Association presented him with an award for being "the world's most outstanding athlete". Some years ago the same prize was given to Jesse Owens.

Thorpe, the shy young boy who was told he was allergic to chlorine, has grown up to become, quite simply, the greatest swimmer the world has seen. As with golf's Tiger Woods, he is so far ahead of his rivals that he evokes head-shaking admiration more than jealousy.

It was during the last Commonealth Games, in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, when he won four gold medals, that he was described as the swimmer of the century. And since then he has caused an even bigger splash.

In the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships he broke four world records in as many days, and in his native Sydney, in the 2000 Olympics, he was a triple gold medal-winner and also picked up two silvers.

In last year's world championships in Japan his damp fist clutched six gold gongs.

In Manchester he is aiming at seven golds. It is little wonder that this phenomenon, a multimillionaire before his 20th birthday in October, is the star of Australia's 41-strong swimming party who are expected to win about two thirds of the 38 swimming golds on offer. And Thorpe, his huge feet whirring like outboard motors, will lead the way on Manchester's golden pond.

Don't mention the feet, though. In Australia the Channel 7 reporter Nikki Voss was sacked after she said: "Oh my God! Look at your feet. They're humungous!" Thorpe has a contract with Channel 7.

If his feet don't scare you, his black, shark-like swimsuit might do the trick.

A world champion at 15, a world record holder at 16 and an Olympic Games legend at 17, Thorpe will compete in the 100, 200 and 400 metres freestyle, the 100 metres backstroke and all three medley relays during the six days of swimming in Manchester, starting on July 30.

It is a rigorous schedule but Thorpe's desire for competition would not allow him any less.

"I'm looking forward to the most successful meeting I can possibly have, which probably won't get me seven gold medals," he says.

"The 100 backstroke will be tough. In the last 10 metres I run out of backstroke muscles. All the muscles just go, or they feel as if they do.

"If I concentrated on one or two events I could probably swim better. But I have this strong desire to compete wherever I can. I love the training. And I love the different ways I have to approach the different events.

"My one ambition is to retire knowing I couldn't have achieved anything else, which is a pretty difficult thing to do. It means I have to be up there for every swim in every competition I enter.

"I feel totally spent every time I swim. And every time I swim I feel I could have gone faster, which encourages me in training."

The 6ft 5in "Thorpedo" has two pool sessions every day as well as a daily weights and fitness session. He gets up every morning at exactly 4.17.

Brian Sutton, Australia's swimming coach, says: "If you were going to do a Frankenstein and put a swimmer together from scratch you would build Ian Thorpe."

His body is still developing and he continues to refine his technique. If his record is staggering, his potential defeats the imagination.

His manager, David Flaskas, says: "I have to knock back 98% of offers we get. After Japan his website experienced meltdown.

"People everywhere are now beginning to appreciate that he is one of the world's leading sportsmen. His Adidas deal has gone from domestic to international, like his Omega contract. Then there is Qantas and Audi. And we have a Japanese TV deal.

"We were told that an Oz swimmer couldn't make it overseas. But China have voted him the world's most popular sportsman. He doubled Tiger Woods's vote. And in Japan he is almost an emperor. When the prime minister there was going through a hard time he asked for a meeting with Ian to help his popularity."

While Flaskas deals with the men from Adidas and Omega, Thorpe himself is more than numerate and enjoys stocks-and-shares dealings. He also has a passion for architecture and was in New York and on his way to the World Trade Centre on September 11 when the twin towers were attacked.

In Manchester this country will discover what the rest of the world already knows. It was another multiple medal winner, the American Mark Spitz, who said: "Swimming is the only sport in which, before an athlete competes, he stands on a pedestal, is introduced and applauded. He hasn't even done anything yet." Thorpe has done plenty. But he is still not applauded nearly enough on these shores.

Making a splash

Born October 1982

Lives Sydney, Australia

Height 6ft 5in

Weight 90.45kg

Shoe size 17

Nicknames Thorpey, Thorpedo or Flipper

Family Father Ken (gardener), mother Margaret (teacher), sister Christina (swimmer)

Career highlights

1997 Wins 10 gold medals, at 14, in New South Wales age short-course championships

1998 Wins four golds in Commonwealth Games, Kuala Lumpur

1999 Wins six golds in Pan Pacific Games, Japan.

2000 Wins three golds and two silvers in Sydney Olympics

2001 Six World Championship golds, four world records.

Holds the world records for 200, 400 and 800 metres freestyle