WEDNESDAY 7th AUG
adidas Beijing VNR
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Story: Ian Thorpe at Sport in Art
Duration: Approx: 5min
Location: Sport in Art Exhibition, Beijing.
Language: English
STORY
Ian Thorpe and seventy other Olympic athletes will sell their personal artwork to raise money for victims of the Chinese earthquake. Thorpe who won five Olympic gold medals three silver and a bronze before retiring from the pool in 2006 painted an abstract version of him swimming for the ‘right to play’ Charity. The piece that is currently being housed at the Sport in Art Exhibition alongside paintings from David Beckham US basketball star Gilbert Arenas and Beijing sprinting hopefuls Tyson Gay and Alyson Felix. Sotheby’s Hong Kong will be the location for the auction of the artwork in October. Thorpe believes each of us should contribute to people less fortunate than ourselves. Under the theme of ‘humanity and sports’ the athletes were asked to showcase the spirit and passion of the Olympic games.
PICTURES & SOUND BITES:
Pan across Thorpe painting
Ian Thorpe’s painting wide
Picture of Thorpe by paining
Close up picture of Thorpe
SOUNDBITES: Ian Thorpe
It’s art and subjective, I look around here and see what the athletes have produced and each piece is such an individual piece to them it means something to them. I think people when they come in and they look at them will appreciate the kind of thought and the feeling behind the pieces.
Jeremy Wariner picture
Close up Wariner picture
Wide of Wariner picture
Photographer
Basketball hoop
Close up basketball hoop
Close up picture of Peng…
Pan on painting of little girl
Wide of little girl with tennis racket
Wide of David Beckham painting
Pan up Beckham painting
SOUNDBITES: Ian Thorpe
They are going to be sold and all the proceeds will go to ‘right to play’
Thorpe walking through the gallery
SOUNDBITES: Ian Thorpe
Right to play is a belief that every child has a right to play all of the money from this exhibition is actually going into programmes in china to people who were affected by the earthquake in Wenchuan.
GV Thorpe having picture taken
SOUNDBITES: Ian Thorpe
We don’t know if it is going to raise any money yet but hopefully there are some people that will appreciate our art work enough to be able to bid on these items and raise funds to be able to do what right to play originally set out to do. I don’t think it was our intention as athletes we would raising money by producing art pieces for this but it is a great way and we serve as a great result for those people.
GV’ Thorpe having picture taken
SOUNDBITES: Ian Thorpe
No I don’t think it should only restricted to athletes who are gifted in things each other us is equally gifted in particular areas and it no more my responsibility than it is yours or anyone else’s to give back to people I guess athletes and people with a higher profile can generate a lot more interest to that particular cause but I think morally each of us should be contributing to people less fortunate than ourselves.
GV’ Thorpe boxing
SOUNDBITES: Ian Thorpe
This piece is unfinished because every bodies story in life is unfinished, we don’t know what’s going to happen next – obviously this is the silhouette that I cast on the bottom of the pool, when I swim, and all these here, when I was a kid I used to think that there were all these people controlling different parts of my body, I used to visualise them to get through the water I realised then also during my career that, its not just about you a lot of people contribute to that performance from and elite athlete so that is why there are a lot of other people inside me making me go forward.
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