Macquarie Alum & Olympic Swimmer Coming Back to Sydney

After the sad realisation that his swimming career will have to stop due to injury, Ian Thorpe will be coming back to Sydney.

A shoulder injury that he managed to overcome for his past Olympic wins has finally got the better of his extraordinary abilities.

Thorpe said of the injury: “I kept on not being able to get through them [his training sessions int he pool], and then I decided [to say to myself] I am just going to push through it; basically, I have moved the positioning of my scapula [and] that's caused a tremendous amount of tension on the front of my shoulder.”

The reality of his situation was difficult for him to process. The swimmer said, “I went to the physio thinking, “Oh it can't be that bad”, to then finding out it [was] actually quite serious.”

The injury has left him unable to compete professionally, and his hopes of taking part in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio have been dashed. The decision to stop his competitive swimming was hard, but he did it for his health. He told The Telegraph: “I don’t want to be the old man who can’t do things – to push out something that may not be realistic any more.” It is for this reason that he has decided not to have corrective surgery. His last surgical procedure took two years to fully heal, and with no guarantee that it would work effectively this time, he has stood down as an Olympic swimmer.

The Macquarie alum and five time Olympic champion still plans to swim, but he is realistic about his injury: “Although I am going to continue swimming, realistically I don’t think I will be able to get back to a position where I am at the top of the sport.”

He trains with his coach, Gennadi Touretski, in Tenero Switzerland, but will come back to Sydney within the next two of three years.

“I don't like it,” the Australian swimmer said ruefully of his retirement. “Well, what can you do? I am a little philosophical about it. One I am glad I have rediscovered my passion for something I loved doing as a kid - I ended up hating what I was doing - but now I am enjoying it again.”

Top Graduates of Macquarie University

Adam Hills

Adam Hills is an Australian comedian and television presenter familiar to both Australian and British audiences. He is most famous in Australia for hosting the music trivia show Spicks and Specks and in Britain for hosting The Last Leg as well as several appearances on Mock the Week.  Hills started his career as a stand-up comedian aged 19 in 1989 and has gone on to produce ten solo international shows. He has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Montreal Just for Laughs festival: Appearances which have earned him three consecutive Perrier Award nominations for his Edinburgh shows in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Originally from Sydney, Hills was born without a right foot and wears a prosthesis, which he refers to throughout his act in a humorous way. Hills graduated in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Macquarie University.

Mike Aynsley

Mike Aynsley is an expert in the banking and financial sector with 30 years experience in the UK & Europe, Australasian and Asia Pacific markets. Aynsley was recently employed by Irish government in the European financial crisis as CEO of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited. Aynsley successfully sold the bank’s US assets for €10 billion and reduced its asset portfolios from €115 billion in 2008 to around €14 billion by the end of last year. Mike Aynsley holds an MBA degree from the Macquarie University Graduate School of Management.

Peter Overton 

Peter Overton is an Australian television journalist and news presenter. He grew up as a friend of actress Nicole Kidman in the Longueville suburb of Sydney. Overton’s early education was at Lane Cove Public School and North Sydney Boys High School. He later graduated with a Bachelor of Economics with a minor in Communications from Macquarie University. Overton then started his career with the Nine Network as a news reporter before graduating to weekend sports presenter on the national news network.

Ian Thorpe

Ian Thorpe is an Australian swimmer, nicknamed the Thorpedo, who specialises in freestyle, but has also competes in backstroke and the individual medley.  He is a five-time Olympic gold medallist. When Australia hosted the Sydney Olympics in 2000, Thorpe won three gold and two silver medals making him the most successful athlete at the games. 

In 2001, he became the first person to win six gold medals in one World Championship. 

During his swimming career, Thorpe studied psychology and linguistics at Macquarie University

Brains and Beauty at Macquarie University

Laura Dundovic, known to most as Miss Universe Australia, has graduated from Macquarie University with a degree in Psychology. The model, who was born in Sydney, Australia but who is of Croatian descent, announced the news on her Instagram account accompanied by a photo of herself wearing her graduation cap and gown. Having started her degree at Macquarie University several years ago, Miss Dundovic deferred the end of the course so that she could have more time to pursue her career in modelling.

Her career has gone from strength to strength since she started modelling several years ago. Her Miss Universe Australia title was achieved in 2008 and she then went on to place in the top ten of the Miss Universe pageant in the same year. Miss Dundovic was the first Australian face of international shoe label, Steve Madden. She has also worked as the official ambassador for the Autumn and Spring racing carnivals at the Sydney Turf Club. In the same year that she won her Miss Universe Australia crown, Miss Dundovic also opened the Sydney Fashion Festival for Charlie Brown. Following this ceremony she was subsequently signed to be the face of the brand. She is also an official ambassador for Myer, Australia’s largest department store.

Before her graduation, Miss Dundovic worked as a television host for a dating show called Dating in the Dark. The show, in which three men and three women were placed into a light-tight house in the Netherlands to get to know each other in the complete darkness, aired on Foxtel through 2010 and 2011. Several media publications have run stories on Miss Dundovic, especially in reference to her on-again, off-again relationship with her boyfriend, James Kerley. Mr Kerley also works as a television host and also frequently as a radio presenter on Nova FM. Mr Kerley is also a published author and the pair live together in an apartment on Sydneys lower north shore. With her most recent accomplishment of graduating from Macquarie University, Miss Dundovic is now taking some time to relax and continue with her work commitments as her modelling portfolio continues to grow.

Sports at Macquarie University!

Liz Ellis is one of Macquarie’s most known alumni within the sporting world. Having graduated from the university in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law, she had already won the status of a World Netball Champion in 1995. After she left Macquarie, she went on to win the World Netball Championships for a second time in 1999 and then again in 2002! Liz was also a Gold Meddalist at the Commonwealth Games in 1988, long before she arrived at the university. She went on to win another gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Having been born in New South Wales, Australia in 1973, she went on to have a highly celebrated netball career playing in the Goal Keeper position. She won an impressive seven medals for her sport between 1995 and 2007 alone! She is the most capped international player for netball in Australia and her career spans a remarkable 18 years. In 2009, Liz became a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours for her "services to netball and the encouragement of women in sport, and to the community through support for a range of charitable organizations". Having finally retired from the sport, she now works as a Broadcaster, Speaker and Coach and has a daughter called Evelyn.

Ian Pollard, who graduated from Macquarie University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts, is another notable alumnus who has achieved great things in sport. In 1971, Ian was a member of the Australian Davis Cup Team and four years later in 1975 he went on to become the New South Wales Hard-court Champion. Although Pollard was a great tennis player, he decided to pursue an academic career after accepting an NSW Rhodes scholarship. He went on to study mathematics and statistics at Oxford University before returning to Australia. Although Ian never continued as a professional sports person after his 1975 win, he will always be remembered as a keen Macquarie sportsman. Apart from tennis he was also particularly interested in squash, baseball and cross country running; representing his university in all three.

Macquarie University

Macquarie University in Australia is rapidly becoming one of the most prestigious in the country and already boasts an impressive list of alumni and supporters. The university are currently investing a great deal of money in research programmes as well as adding new buildings to their structure. With new teaching facilities and a selection of fantastic professors, it is easy to see why so many celebrated people graduate from this institution.

Recently in the news, Dr Felicity M Cox was giving her opinions on the preservation of the Australian accent. Dr Cox first graduated from Macquarie university in 1983 with Bachelor of Arts/Diploma of Education and then came back to do her Doctorate in Philosophy of which she graduated in 1997. Dr Cox is currently working on an investigation called “AusTalk” in which she explores the origins and development of the Australian dialect and accent.

Another Macquarie graduate also recently in the news is Dr Michelle L Power. Dr Power graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1997 and then again with a Doctorate in Philosophy in 2003. She is currently working on a project that explores how wallabies bred in captivity may be resistant to bacteria that their wild counterparts are not. Her research has been widely published on the internet and is of great interest to many other scientists investigating the similar ideals.

Dr Sean R Turnnel was also once a Macquarie student although now he lives further afield in Myanmar where he is conducting research into the society as a whole and regional politics. He frequently publishes his research on financial happenings in the country and is currently exploring the recent surge in investment interest in the nation. Dr Turnnel was in attendance at Macquarie University on an impressive three occasions. He first came to study a Bachelor of Economics in 1988, then he went on to complete a Bachelors of Economics (Honours) 1990 and finally a Doctorate in Philosophy in 2001.

All three of these well accomplished Dr’s began their career studying for Doctorates in Philosophy at Macquarie University and have gone on to accomplish many varied and interesting things around the world!

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