Olympic swimming legend Ian Thorpe has vowed to bounce back after his personal finances took a hit in the global financial crisis.
He reluctantly confirmed he recently suffered serious cashflow problems after shedding lucrative sponsorship deals to focus on his university studies, News Ltd newspapers say.
When broadcaster Alan Jones became aware of his friend's situation, he rang Westpac boss Gail Kelly to seek her help to restructure Thorpe's financial affairs, News Ltd says.
Thorpe has now streamlined his interests, declaring he wants to lead "a happy and simple life".
"Like my sporting career, one of my strengths is my resilience to bounce back from any setback," he said.
"It was pretty obvious that he wasn't all that well sorted," Jones said this week. "There were a lot of loose ends and he didn't know where all his money and investments were.
"Ian's had no training in this area because he's spent so much of his life in a swimming pool. So I rang Gail Kelly for him. Simple as that.
"Gail got someone from her personal banking unit - who coincidentally lived just two streets away from Ian - and they set up an appointment. He's now got all his finances sorted out in the one area."
Thorpe, 27, recently completed his first year of a double degree in linguistics and psychology, which he found "enjoyable but very challenging".
Australian Sports Entertainment
