SYDNEY (AP) β The agent for five-time Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe says the 31-year-old will never swim again after contracting two potentially-deadly infections while undergoing shoulder surgery.
James Erskine said Thorpe was “quite sick” in the intensive care ward of a Sydney hospital but dismissed media reports the swimmer might lose the use of his left arm.
Erskine told Australian Associated Press that Thorpe’s condition was “serious but not life-threatening. He’s contracted two forms of bugs in hospital. He’s undergone two or three operations over the last two months so … I mean bad luck. He’s quite sick but that’s the situation.”
Erskine said Thorpe contracted the infections during a series of surgeries on his shoulder at a clinic near his home in the Swiss town of Ronco sopra Ascona.
