38 Facts About Grant Hackett

Grant Hackett was well regarded for his versatility, and has held the long course world records in the 200 m, 800 m, and 1500 m freestyle events.

Grant Hackett worked for the Nine Network, often hosting Wide World of Sports.

Grant Hackett is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Generation Life.

Grant Hackett was born at Southport on the Gold Coast of Queensland.

Grant Hackett is the son of a policeman and younger brother of a Surf Lifesaving champion.

Grant Hackett first achieved prominence on debut at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships, where he first won the 1500 metres.

Grant Hackett won the 400 m freestyle, recording his only international victory over the yet-to-be-famous Ian Thorpe at the distance in international long course competition.

In 1999, Grant Hackett broke his first world record, unexpectedly breaking Giorgio Lamberti's 200 m freestyle world record while leading off his club relay team at the Australian Championships.

That record was broken by Ian Thorpe in the same year at the 1999 Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, although Grant Hackett himself bettered his old mark.

At the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Grant Hackett was in the peak of his speed.

Grant Hackett set personal bests in the 200 m, 400 m 800 m and 1500 m freestyle events, finishing second to Thorpe in both 400 m and 800m, and bettering the 800 m world record in the latter.

Grant Hackett showed this in Sydney when he won despite having only partly recovered from illness, and again in Athens, when he survived challenges from swimmers both six years his junior to hang on to win the race, despite a partially collapsed lung.

Grant Hackett was awarded this honour, and led Australia in the World Championships at Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Grant Hackett won gold medals in the 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m freestyle, the first person to achieve this feat, along with the only swimmer to medal in four distances in a single world championships.

Grant Hackett was named as FINA's Male swimmer of the meet.

In November 2005, Grant Hackett announced his withdrawal from the 2006 Commonwealth Games due to being unavailable for the selection trials because of a minor surgery to correct a shoulder injury.

In late 2006, Grant Hackett relocated to Melbourne for personal reasons.

Grant Hackett attributed his disrupted preparation to adjusting with his new regime.

Grant Hackett was criticised for appearing to be overweight after the event, a claim that he rejected as "ridiculous".

Grant Hackett won the individual 200m freestyle swim at the Olympic trials but as he was not seeking a berth in the event he handed his spot in the Olympic competition in this event to the third-place finisher at the trials, Nicholas Sprenger.

Grant Hackett won a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle.

Grant Hackett has set quite a number of world records both short course and long course.

Grant Hackett is currently contracted to the Nine Network, having previously worked with the Seven Network.

In October 2008, Grant Hackett joined Nine News Melbourne as the weekend sport presenter, replacing Heath O'Loughlin.

Grant Hackett was an expert commentator for Amazon Prime Video for the 2021 Swimming Australia Olympic Trials and the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships.

Grant Hackett holds a double degree in commerce and law, and an executive MBA from Bond University.

On 14 April 2007, Grant Hackett married Australian singer Candice Alley.

In March 2009, Grant Hackett announced that his wife was expecting twins and in September she gave birth to a son named Jagger Emilio and a girl named Charlize Alley.

On 3 May 2012, Alley and Grant Hackett announced that they were separating.

Grant Hackett was questioned by police for an alleged assault during a flight from Adelaide to Melbourne on 17 April 2016.

Grant Hackett reportedly abused and grabbed the passenger on the chest before crew restrained him and contacted Federal Police.

Grant Hackett said he "stuffed up" and was embarrassed by his actions.

On 15 February 2017 Grant Hackett was arrested following a disturbance at his parents' house on Queensland's Gold Coast.

Grant Hackett had previously admitted a reliance on sleeping pills and had been battling mental health issues.

Later that same day, his parents reported him missing from home, but before he was reported missing, Grant Hackett posted a photo of himself on Instagram with cuts and bruises to his face and said his brother had beaten him.

Grant Hackett received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000, and both a Centenary Medal and a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2001, the latter for his 2000 gold medal win.

Grant Hackett was named as the Australian Swimmer of the Year in 2005, and was named the World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine.

In 2009 as part of the Q150 celebrations, Grant Hackett was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as a "sports legend".