Grant George Hackett (born May 9, 1980) is an
Australian swimmer who won the men's 1500 metres
freestyle race at both the 2000 Summer Olympics in
Sydney and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. This
has led him to be regarded as one of the greatest
distance swimmers in history. He also collected a
gold medal in Sydney for swimming in the heats of
the 4×200 m freestyle relay. He is well regarded for
his versatility, being the world record holder in
the 1500 m and 800 m freestyle, and 2nd and 4th in
the 400 m and 200 m freestyle respectively. He has
dominated the 1500 m event in the past decade, being
undefeated in the event in finals from 1996 until
the 2007 World Aquatics Championships. His four
World Championship gold medals in the event make him
the only swimmer to have won a world title in one
event four times, and in total, he has won 10 World
Championship gold medals. Hackett is the current
captain of the Australian swimming team.
On April 14, 2007, Hackett married Australian singer
Candice Alley.
He has Bachelor of Commerce and Laws degrees from
Bond University.
