On Monday afternoon, Australian Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe visited WAB to share his Olympic dream story with the WAB community and conduct a swim clinic for the WAB Tigersharks. As a Beijing Olympic Education Model School, WAB embraced this truly extraordinary opportunity for students and parents to meet one of the world's fastest swimmers, and the most titled Australian swimmer to date.

WAB students and parents crowded the Blu Theatre for the screening of an inspiring Olympic video, put together by WAB Video Coordinator, Greg MacIsaac, followed by a Question & Answer session about Ian's Olympic experience.

"The Q & A session gave the WAB community real insight into the thoughts and memories of an Olympic athlete," said Derek Davies, WABX-ES Coordinator & ES PE Teacher, who hosted the conversation. Seated behind a desk with his MacBook, Derek, a natural speaker and comedian, could have passed for a late night television host, while Ian, the star that he is, sat in a high-backed red chair, joking with Derek and offering thoughtful responses to the questions posed by students.

Ian spoke candidly about his first entry into swimming. When he was 14, he said, he was dragged along to swimming carnivals with his sister, whose doctor prescribed swimming to help strengthen her weak wrists.

"I got bored waiting around and playing my Gameboy," he told the WAB audience. "So I decided I'd start swimming."

"I was pudgy then," he said, "I played soccer and cricket but had never been into swimming."

It didn't take long for Ian to realize he was allergic to chlorine. Plugged with a nose clip, Ian dove into swimming, though he wasn't a natural at the sport at first. "I wasn't good at swimming straight-up," he admitted. "But when it happened, it happened."

Ian was 17 when 'it happened,' at the 2000 Sydney Games. He beat his own world record in the 400-m Freestyle to claim the Olympic gold. In the following years, he set over 20 world records and won 9 Olympic medals, including 5 golds. He also won over 10 gold medals at the FINA World Championships. While known among the English speaking community as the 'Thorpedo,' Ian is known around China as the 'Gold Fish,' 金鱼。

On Monday afternoon, Ian also joined WAB's Tigersharks swim team for their regular afternoon practice in the WAB pool. He observed the swimmers and offered pointers for improvement on their strokes. One valuable piece of advice he offered swimmers: don't keep your upper body so stiff! He wiggled his upper body in example, eliciting giggles from the swimmers, who jumped around in the shallow water in excitement.

After the event, parents and students could be heard talking about his pointers and advice, which ranged from not drinking sugary sports tonics to imagining singing during long distance swims to keep your mind off the boredeom and pain.

"Ian was so articulate, entertaining and enlightening," said ES and MS parent Eliot Bikales. "My son Booway had a blast and used his homework spelling words to write about the Olympics. One of his Australian classmates, Regan, wrote about Ian for his homework on significant people from his home country! So an all-around wonderful Olympic education experience."