Unstoppable James Magnussen eyes two titles at the 2012 London Olympic Games

Unstoppable James Magnussen eyes two titles at the 2012 London Olympic Games

The unstoppable Australian veteran, James Magnussen is eyeing gold medals of 100m and 50m freestyle at the forthcoming 2012 London Olympic Games.

The 20-year-old Magnussen, who is the world champion of 100m freestyle, continued his nerve-wrecking pace at the last week’s Australian Selection Trials for the Olympic Games and clinched national titles of both freestyle disciplines.

Magnussen clocked an effort of 47.10 seconds to claim the crown of 100m event, which is fastest by any swimmer since the ban on polyurethane suits.

“I don’t really know what people’s reactions are, but I’m not all that worried either, When you look back over the years at the great 100 freestylers, you look at the likes of (Alexander) Popov and (Pieter) van den Hoogenband,” said Magnussen.

“If, in 10 years time, people could look back at the event and mention my name, I’d feel pretty privileged. It’s definitely a legacy I want to leave and it’s something that I’m striving for,” he added.

“I’m pretty exhausted actually, both mentally and physically. I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and take stock of the week and what has happened. But once I get a chance to sit back and basically have time to let it sink in, I’m sure I’ll be very
proud. But at the moment, I’m still pretty excited, just pumped,” Magnussen added.

In contrast, the French 100m freestyle crown was earned by Yannick Agnel, who posted a time of 48.02 seconds.  His effort was almost one second slower from the Australian ‘Missile’ Magnussen, who has showed no signs of slowing down and keeps on improving
his time at every meet he participates.

While admiring Magnussen’s blistering performance, Agnel said "I’m not going to get carried away because there is a lot of work to do before I can reach the level of the Australians."

The 2012 London Games are just a couple of months away, where the 20-year-old Magnussen aims at lowering the Cesar Cielo’s world record of 46.91 seconds, which was made in 2009 Rome World Championships.

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Posted by Mursil Mehmood Butt on Mar 26 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry