Australian swimming star Ian Thorpe could have been on the top of the World Trade Center when it was hit by two hijacked passenger jets if he had not forgotten his camera.
Thorpe, who became the first swimmer to win six gold medals at the July world championships in Japan, had walked past the World Trade Center earlier in the day and gone back to his hotel to get his camera.
"He was 15 to 20 minutes away from being there," Frank Turner, one of Thorpe's managers, said Thursday.
He went back for his camera and turned on the TV in his room while he waited for the wife of his co-manager, Michelle Flaskas.
"He actually saw the planes going into the center. He was shocked. A few minutes later and who knows what could have happened," Turner said.
"Like most swimmers he's an early riser and had been up and about. He had walked past the World Trade Center and decided to go to the top to take some pictures".
Thorpe (18) was in New York for a promotional event for clothes designer Giorgio Armani, which has now been postponed.
Turner said Thorpe had been scheduled to fly to Japan, but he may now return to Australia.
AFP