GOALS, SET A GOAL, WRITE IT DOWN AND RELEASE THE OUTCOME. SMALL STEPS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.

Thorpe wins duel in the pool

By Michael CowleyAugust 17, 2000
Thorpe celebrates victory in the 200m freestyle at the Athens Olympic Pool.
Regardless of how many gold medals American swimmer Michael Phelps leaves Greece with, Ian Thorpe will head home to Australia with the title of the world's best swimmer after winning the men's 200m freestyle in Athens on Monday night.
Thorpe won the event dubbed the 'Race of the Century', in doing so accounting for the sport's biggest names - Phelps, Grant Hackett, and Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband - and showing anyone interested in doubting him, that he is far from past his best in a sport he has dominated since bursting onto the international scene in 1998.
The victory also sees the 21-year-old create Australian Olympic history.
Combined with the three gold he won in Sydney four years ago, plus the one from the 400m in Athens, and now one from the 200m, Thorpe has five Olympic gold medals, more than any Australian athlete in history.
Monday night's win saw him ease past the record of four he had held jointly with Betty Cuthbert, Murray Rose and Dawn Fraser.
Thorpe is now within sights of becoming our greatest ever medal winner at the Games.

He has won seven Olympic medals, just one short of the all-time mark held by Fraser and Susie O'Neill.
The race did not disappoint, living up to months of hype. Van den Hoogenband took it out hard and led through the first 150m, before Thorpe - who had been sitting just off his rival's shoulder - made his move, powering down the final leg of the pool, kicking clear, and then holding off both the Dutchman and Phelps.
He hit the wall in a time of 1min.44.71s (the equal third fastest time ever), took off his cap and googles, and punched the air with the ferocity of Muhammed Ali. This was the one he wanted and he had it.
Van den Hoogenband held on for second in 1min.45.23s, with Phelps setting a new American record of 1min.45.32s.
Klete Keller was fouth in 1min.46.13s, with Hackett fifth in 1min.46.56s.
"It was tough, it felt hard, but it was a pretty good performance and I'm ecstatic about the result," Thorpe said.
"I knew he (van den Hoogenband) was going to go out quick, I was just hoping to stay close enough to him."
Thorpe dedicated his 400m win on Saturday to all who had helped him get there, but the 200m was different, he said.
"I think this one was more for me, than other people. It was a great result for myself."
The Dutchman shook Thorpe's hand after the race and offered some words: "He just said he was very pleased for me. I think he just enjoyed the race."
Phelps, 19, was attempting to equal or better the achievement of his countryman Mark Spitz, who won seven Olympic gold medals in Munich 32 years ago.
But all the focus had been on one specific race he was contesting, the 200m freestyle, because it brought together the two swimmers vying for the title of the sport's best. At least for the time being, Thorpe must own that moniker.
With Phelps unable to win gold in the 200m, it brings to an end his quest to match Spitz. The American has just one gold from three events, and with just five remaining to swim, even with a perfect success rate from here, the sums won't allow him to reach seven gold.
For Thorpe it was a case of revenge being a dish best served cold after a four-year wait.
In what went down as one of the greatest shocks in the pool in Sydney, the then 17-year-old was upstaged by van den Hoogenband in the 200m freestyle.
That was the last time Thorpe lost a 200m race at a major event.