Ian Thorpe returns to swimming pool

Ian Thorpe returns to swimming pool

After failing to qualify for the Australian team to the 2012 London Olympic Games, the comeback king, Ian Thorpe has once again returned to the pool as he proclaimed that he would try to make his way in the Australian team to the 2016 Olympic Games.

The five-time Olympic champion, Thorpe retired from swimming in 2006 but made a comeback to his beloved sport in February 2011, claiming that he would try to make his spot in the Australian 4*100m freestyle relay team to the London Games.

Thorpe dominated the 200m and 400m freestyle events at the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympic Games while he also won a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle at the latter event.

After a gruelling preparation of more than a year, the 29-year-old Thorpe was unable to match the performances of Australian youngsters and thus failed to confirm his place in the national squad to London. He participated in the events of 100m and 200m freestyle
to book his spot in any of the two freestyle relay events, but he was failed to achieve so.

Nevertheless, the Australian clarified that he will not be quitting swimming again and has plans to prepare for the next Games.

“It was actually pretty easy. I had a couple of days off and then got back into it, I’m still disappointed but once the competition was over I found the resolve to continue doing what I’m doing and I’m as motivated as what I was before. I still have exactly
the same intentions. I have literally no idea when I’ll be back in competition,” Thorpe said.

“It will be sometime during this year but I most definitely haven’t made any decision on which competition it will be. The next phase for me is really a pretty significant training block,” he added.

The 29-year-old was upset with his non-qualification effort at the 2012 EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships, which acted as the Australian Selection Trials for the 2012 London Games.

Nonetheless, he now has more than four years to prepared for his potentially next Olympic Games.

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Posted by Mursil Mehmood Butt on Mar 29 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