This picture was taken in the Geisha Bar office when Ian Thorpe & Grant Hackett were at the height of their power and “Skippy” Hugill was at the height of his weight before his inspiring medal winning diet, but the moment belonged to Thorpe & Hackett….Polite, articulate & gifted these two world champions were literally on top of the WORLD.

No one, least of all Thorpe & Hackett would have contemplated that this was their zenith & the cruel decent into mortality was about to begin.

Their subsequent human frailty & the sad “normality” that was exposed does nothing to diminish their wonderful achievements but it reminds us that we are all the same. Prone to the same ailments, illnesses, flaws & imperfections. Depression & family breakdown traverses the social spectrum & just in case you need reminding, fame & fortune melts like butter in the face of life’s darker moments.