The museum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (which hosted the 1956 Olympic Games) has Australia swim legend Ian Thorpe's shoes that came to them by accident. "It so happened that the Australian Olympic Association had asked its sponsors, Nike, to design the kit for the Sydney Olympics contingent and so a Size 17 pair was prepared for Thorpe.


A regular Size 9 shoe alongside Ian Thorpe's Size 17 shoe at the MCG Museum. Pic/Ashwin Ferro 

However, Thorpe was at the time contracted to Adidas and so couldn't wear these shoes and they quite unexpectedly came to our museum," one of the museum staff members told mid-day here yesterday. The enormity of Thorpe's shoe (see picture) is evident when placed beside a regular Size 9 shoes. Thorpe won three gold medals at the Sydney Games.


Ian Thorpe