Ian Thorpe at the Sport Australia Hall Of Fame Induction & Awards Gala Dinner at Crown Palladium on November 17 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)
The sold sticker has gone up on Olympic swimming legend Ian Thorpe’s Edgecliff apartment, and it’s gone well above the $2.8m price guide.
The stylish three-bedroom apartment in the Harry Seidler-designed Arlington block in Edgecliff Rd had been due to go under the hammer this coming Thursday, via Ray White Double Bay’s Jordan L’Estrange and Warren Ginsberg.
No word from them on the price achieved prior to auction, but other sources put the result at “close to $3m”.
Thorpey, who’d listed the apartment on November 7, had bought it for $2.79m in July, 2023.
So if the result was just under the $3m figure, he’s had a modest gain of about 7 per cent.
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Harbour views to Manly.
It offers 164sqm of living space.
That’s marginally better than many apartment owners in the suburb, with PropTrack putting the current median apartment price for Edgecliff at $1,385,000 — that’s 5.8 per cent more than when “Thorpedo”, who celebrated his 43rd birthday in October with friends on Lord Howe Island, made his purchase.
Though that’s not including the $136k in stamp duty he would have paid.
In his most recent Instagram post, he recently reflected on his career.
“It’s hard for me to think back and realise the the Sydney Olympic Games were 25 years ago,” he said in a video for GQ magazine
“It feels like it was not quite yesterday, but it feels like it was in more recent memory than 25 years on.”
He described lighting the cauldron with another legend, former runner Cathy Freeman, as “incredible” and the next night he achieved his “childhood dream which was to become an Olympic champion”.
On the home front, it’s unclear where Thorpey is headed next.
It has three bedrooms.
And two bathrooms and double parking.
He still owns a four-bedroom apartment around the corner in Ocean St, purchased in December 2017 for $2.75m.
It‘s been rented out for $1,850 per week, having previously been listed for sale with a $3.5m guide last October and passing in on a vendor bid of $3.95m the year before.
He hasn’t advised if he’s intending to move back there or buy elsewhere.
The Edgecliff Rd property, which had two bathrooms and double parking, was always going to be popular, spanning two levels and full of natural light.
It’s close by Double Bay village and has sweeping views from the city skyline to Manly. This north-east facing residence features generous-sized bedrooms, an entertainer’s kitchen and a sun-soaked balcony.
The 164sq m apartment had previously sold in 2016 for $2.37m.
Thorpe, who retired in 2016, won five Olympic gold medals, the second most won by any Australian after fellow swimmer Emma McKeon.
He was the most successful athlete at the 2000 Summer Olympics.
Thorpe, who came out as gay during an appearance on UK talk show host Michael Parkinson’s program in 2014, was a prominent voice in the 2017 Yes campaign.
He is currently single, with his most publicly acknowledged gay relationship with model and law student Ryan Channing, who died in 2022.
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