IN an Olympics at which Australia had their worst medal haul for 20 years, Ian Thorpe was an undoubted star of London 2012.
Not in the pool, though, as the Australian swimmer had hoped when stepping out of retirement a year earlier, but as Clare Balding's poolside partner on BBC television, where he showed himself to be a shrewd, charming and intelligent analyst.
Tell him that he had a great Games and he groans a little, still feeling the disappointment. "It was hard when I arrived in London and put my swimming bag in the hotel wardrobe, thinking, 'I really wanted that to be in the Olympic Village,'" he said. "And then I thought, 'Get over yourself, this is going to be a great time.'"
Before the races, particularly those he had hoped to race in - the 100m and 200m freestyle, he felt a familiar knot of nerves in his stomach and he talks eloquently now about how he would have swum those races differently, not out of bitterness but with the keen eye of someone who knows his sport well.
He would, I suggest, be a brilliant coach. With his technical knowledge and enthusiastic manner, he could inspire future generations of swimmers, but Thorpe is uncertain.
"I like mentoring, helping people out with their technique, tweaking things," he said. "I get a lot of satisfaction from that, but to be on the pool deck responsible for your athletes, I don't know. I'd be like a film director wanting to play all the roles. I couldn't take their ups and downs."
Thorpe's see-sawing emotions have been revealed recently with his admission in an autobiography that he has suffered from depression since childhood. "