Ian Thorpe sighting in Australia

Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Colin Farrel, Heath Ledger, Mel Gibson, Hugh Jackman, Kylie Minogue – you read about these famous Aussies all the time. Me, I had the chance to talk to one of the hottest stars from Down Under. Who? How? Well, the story goes like this.

I had just flown in from Hong Kong on the newest plane of Qantas Airlines (their business class deserves three snaps in the air for comfort and service, thanks to Honeybee Hubahib).

Jojie Dingcong (the manager of Martin Nievera and Vina Morales), Vina Morales – who had just finished a concert in Sydney and Melbourne (the concert was a rousing success, especially when she started singing her Beyonce medley) and I had just come from a Darling Harbour tour on board Jamie Durie’s personal yacht (Jamie is owner of Patio, one of the hottest landscape architecture firms in Australia, as well as the host of lifestyle shows Backyard Blitz and The Block).

We were having W Red Martinis at the Water Bar of the W Hotel. Last time I was in Sydney, I also dropped by W Hotel – the most luxurious hotel, where your every wish is their command (as the hotel puts it: Whatever you want, whenever you want it). Russell Crowe is also the resident star, he’s been living at W Hotel for some time now.

Naturally, Jamie knew the most famous (my favorite word) people hanging out in the hotel. People like models and Aussie hotties Jonathan Kovak and Mark Teasdale; and Clark Kirby, owner of the Sydney-based The Village Roadshow Ltd, which produced Hollywood blockbusters like The Matrix. Then who should we bump into but the Thorpedo himself – Olympic swimming medalist and Australia’s hottest export Ian Thorpe.

I had peripherally been following Ian Thorpe’s career, since I really admire his drive, talent and discipline for one so young (the fact that he’s good looking is, naturally, a bonus). And of course, he’s one of the endorsers of my favorite sports brand, Adidas. So when Jamie called Ian over, Jojie and I were delighted.

Ian is really down to earth; really great for someone who has five Olympic medals, two gold medals from the Athens Olympics, two silver and one bronze tucked under his swim trunks, not to mention his countless other medals and awards from the World and Pan Pacific Championships and Commonwealth Games.

I learned from the Adidas people that Ian has an allergy to chlorine. It’s amazing how he can spend six days-a-week training in a chlorine-laden pool in spite of the allergy and become a champion at that. I guess that’s one of the reasons Adidas loves this guy so much – he suits their "impossible is nothing" creed.

Ian, in fact, has been on the Adidas roster since 1999, and he was integral in developing the latest competitive swimsuit: The Jetconcept Body Suit. He went through the rigors of testing and study – in a wind tunnel and in water – so that Adidas could test the hydrodynamics of a competitive swimmer. The revolutionary Jetconcept suit behaves much like a commercial aircraft in flight, reducing drag over the bank and butt, and increasing speed in water. Ian was the first athlete ever to use the suit at the Barcelona FINA World Championships in 2003. "It allows me to have the best opportunity in the water I can possibly have," he says.

Beyond his swim champion façade, I discovered Ian to be a regular guy. In fact, in the course of our conversation, I discovered we share some common interests: Fresh fruit juices, Japanese sashimi, the movie Moulin Rouge, grooving to Nelly and of course, Adidas. Oh, and his shoe size is 12. You know what they say about the size of a guy’s feet.

Beyond that, Ian has a good businessman’s instinct. Last year, he launched his own IT (Ian Thorpe’s initials) line of underwear. This year, he’s working on food deals. And those aren’t just straight endorsements, "We’re looking at becoming more of a business rather than just being about the logos," Ian said in an interview in Sydney’s Sunday Life. Now that’s a crafty man after my own heart.

And when he says business, he means business – from development all the way to the marketing. He launched the Thorpedo Advanced Hydration Water last week and is now working on an entire range of low-fat, low-sugar nutritionally loaded food-and-drink line for the next few years.

For the next three months, Ian will be on vacation. So aside from the businesses that he’s cooking up with his team of advisers, he’s taking a swim break. He’ll be country-hopping, and I hope he includes the Philippines in his itinerary.

I did invite him over. After all, he’s an Adidas endorser, and I’m the Adidas publicist, and I live in the Philippines – it makes perfect sense! Who knows? And maybe next time I go back to Sydney, I might run into Russell Crowe at the W Hotel. You never know.