Fears are emerging that a sojourn in California may be very costly for our star swimmer, writes Jessica Halloran.
The training pool is only half an hour from Thorpe’s Hollywood home but the swimmer has only been seen in it a handful of times by the Herald since he arrived in California in June.
Thorpe has been mixing it with the stars since he moved to Los Angeles, reportedly to escape the spotlight in Australia. It was thought he would be more anonymous in Los Angeles and he might be able to reignite the hunger for the pool. Some are starting to think he may be starting to run out of time for the world titles in March.
IF Ian Thorpe were almost any other swimmer, Australia’s head coach Alan Thompson would be preparing to write him off as a gold medal prospect at the next Olympics.
“For a normal person, he would be at that point now,” Thompson says. “But he’s not a normal person. He’s one of the greatest athletes we have seen.”
Australia’s greatest Olympian has not raced at international level since his Athens triumph almost two years ago. He took six months out of the pool completely, got back into shape late last year, then raced solidly at the NSW titles last December and the Commonwealth Games trials in February.
But then things went pear-shaped.
COMMONWEALTH Games distance champion David Davies is expected to be fit for next year’s world swimming championships in Melbourne despite pulling out of the European championships because of injury.
The Briton, favourite to win the 1500m freestyle title next month in Budapest, was forced to withdraw from the meet after an injury-affected build up.
The Olympic bronze medal winner and this year’s 1500m Commonwealth champion recently underwent an operation to remove an abscess from his left ankle, which kept the 21-year-old out of the pool for six weeks.
Australian swimming legend Grant Hackett returned from nine months out with a shoulder injury with a message for Welsh rival David Davies.
Hackett, unbeaten at 1500m freestyle in 10 years, was taken close by Davies and American Larsen Jensen when he claimed Olympic gold in Athens in 2004.
“I always expected them to improve but not to 14min 45sec, I think anything is possible for Beijing 2008,” he said.
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Jessicah Schipper will make a world record attempt over 200m butterfly at the Pan Pacific Championships in Canada this summer.
On the eve of the Brisbane Grand Prix in Australia, Schipper’s coach Ken Wood told the Australian Associated Press: “We are going to have a lash at the world record at Pan Pacs in the 200m `fly. You’ve got to have a goal and I don’t mind telling anyone.”
This weekend Schipper will race for the first time since sustaining a shoulder injury in warm-up at the world short-course championships in Shanghai. She was accidentally kicked by another swimmer just before the final of the 100 metres butterfly but still managed to pick up the bronze.
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IAN Thorpe has all but ruled out a return to longer distances in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games IN bEIJING.
Thorpe revealed tonight that he was reluctant to add the 400m freestyle - which he dropped prior to this year’s Commonwealth Games - to his sprint-oriented program.
The 23-year-old elected to ditch his pet 400m event in a bid to concentrate on the 100m.
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MELBOURNE (Reuters) - David Davies gave Wales its first Commonwealth Games swimming gold for 32 years on Tuesday, destroying a proud Australian record for good measure.
Davies’s comfortable victory in the men’s 1,500 metres freestyle ended Australia’s 48-year stranglehold on swimming’s ‘iron man’ event on the final night of competition.
“I was proud out there — I was almost crying,” said Davies, who stormed to the gold in 14 minutes 57.63 seconds in the absence of Australia’s Olympic champion Grant Hackett.
“It’s the first major medal I’ve won and I’m going to remember it for the rest of my life.”
Davies was third behind Hackett at the 2004 Olympics and at last year’s world championship, and was installed as the odds-on favourite when the Australian pulled out after shoulder surgery.
He became the first non-Australian to win the gold since 1954 and the first swimmer from Wales to win a Commonwealth title since Patricia Beavan’s 200 metres breaststroke gold in 1974.
“It’s a massive weight off my shoulders,” said Davies. “Since Grant Hackett’s withdrawal I’ve been expected to win. It’s a new experience for me.
DIFFERENT ANIMAL
“I’m still not that same type of animal as Grant Hackett or even Kieren Perkins. They can go out fast and attack but it takes a lot out of me.”
Wrapped in a Welsh flag, Davies celebrated his start-to-finish victory by jumping into the Welsh enclosure to hug coaches, family and team mates.
“I swam out on my own. It was pretty hard,” said the 21-year-old, who touched almost 12 seconds before runner-up Andrew Hurd of Canada.
“One of the boys said to me, ‘If I go down to the bookies and put 1,000 dollars on and you don’t come through I’ll only get 20 back’, so there was a lot of pressure.”
Davies’s time was well outside his personal best and more than 23 seconds outside Hackett’s world record of 14:34.56.
“Now I know what it’s like to go out there and do it,” he said. “I’ll take it on again when all the big guys are back for the (2008 Beijing) Olympics and (2007) world championships.”
Thorpe asked to replace Hackett
NATIONAL head coach Alan Thompson will appeal to a wavering Ian Thorpe to consider swimming the 400m freestyle at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March, to bolster an Australia team weakened by the loss of injured world champion Grant Hackett.
Thorpe’s coach Tracey Menzies indicated three months ago that he was likely to concentrate on the 100m and 200m freestyle in Melbourne. However, Thorpe said last month that he would not make up his mind about his signature event until just before the Games selection trials at the end of January.
Thompson said he would raise the 400m issue with Thorpe and Menzies during this weekend’s World Cup meet in Sydney, where Thorpe will swim his first race, the 100m freestyle, since the Athens Olympics.
Thompson, though, said he “was not going to put any pressure on Ian to do something that is not of his choosing”.
Thorpe has signalled his intention to move towards the sprints for his third Olympic appearance, in Beijing in 2008.
Thompson may be looking for ways to replace Hackett as a swimmer in Melbourne, but not as a captain.
He predicted that Swimming Australia would decline to name an interim captain while Hackett was sidelined with a shoulder injury.
The dual Olympic 1500m champion underwent surgery last night to correct a suspected tendon tear under his right shoulder blade. He is expected to be out of the water for up to two months, ruling him out of the Melbourne Games.
“We are not going to be looking to replace Grant,” Thompson said.
Thompson said the Australia team would appoint a leadership group of four after the trials, from which one or more would be appointed as the team spokesperson.
This year’s leadership group comprised Michael Klim, Jim Piper, Giaan Rooney and Brooke Hanson.
Thompson said he was still hopeful Hackett would recover in time to lead the national team to the world short-course championships in Shanghai in April. Hackett is expected to be fully fit by the Pan Pacific championships in Vancouver in August, but faces a selection stumbling block there.
The trials for both the Commonwealth Games and the Pan Pacs are being held in January, while he is recovering from his surgery.
Thompson expects that Hackett will skip the Pan Pacs to prepare thoroughly for the 2007 world championships, also to be held in Melbourne.
Hackett withdrawal saddens Davies
The withdrawal of Olympic and world 1500m freestyle champion Grant Hackett from the Commonwealth Games has left Wales’ David Davies favourite for gold.
But the 20-year-old Welshman insists he is unhappy at the shoulder injury suffered by his great rival.
“I’m disappointed because at a major meet you want your biggest rivals there to help make sure you put in your very best performance,” said Davies.
“It’s a real blow to lose someone of such high calibre as Grant.”
Barry swimmer Davies, currently training in Lanzarote with the Welsh squad, has been beaten into third place at the last Olympics and World Championship by Hackett and American Larsen Jensen.
That trio have been a street ahead of their rivals in the event, with Hackett the peerless king having gone eight years unbeaten.
As Hackett is now out of the Melbourne games - and Jensen ineligible thanks to a certain Boston beverage party back in 1773 - many will see Davies as a shoe-in for the gold medal.
But the City of Cardiff man has refused to get carried away with the hype.
“There are still a lot of great swimmers around and it’s going to be a tough job to go to Melbourne and swim well,” said Davies
“Personally I’m gutted for Grant. We get on well and it will be a real shame that he won’t be there.”
DAVIES HAS GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
Olympic bronze medallist David Davies insists he is disappointed at Grant Hackett’s withdrawal from next year’s Commonwealth Games.
Hackett, the Olympic and World 1,500m freestyle champion, has been forced to pull out of the Melbourne Games in March due to a shoulder injury.
That boosts Davies’ chances of winning gold but the 20-year-old Welshman stressed: “I’m obviously disappointed because when you are at a major meet you want your biggest rivals to be there to help make sure you put in your very best performance.
“It’s a real blow to lose any swimmer but to lose someone of such high calibre as Grant is a massive loss.
“Personally I’m gutted for him. We get on well and it will be a real shame that he won’t be there.
“There are still a lot of great swimmers around and it’s going to be a tough job to go there and swim well.”
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