Talent pool deeper than it looks, says Frost

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The man who took Ian Thorpe from learn-to-swim classes to Olympic champion and world record-breaker, believes there will soon be a resurgence in men’s swimming in Australia.

While Thorpe and Grant Hackett were the core of the Australian men’s team in Athens last year, and Hackett the leader without Thorpe at the world titles in Montreal this year, outside that pair, the male ranks have been looking extremely vulnerable.

At the worlds, the women were brilliant, winning 10 of Australia’s 13 gold medals. Just four of the 21 women failed to win a medal. The men’s team’s three golds were all won by Hackett.

But Doug Frost, who took a coaching post at the Australian Institute of Sport this year, thinks the future is not as bleak as some think, and Australians could see the next wave of local male swimmers emerge as early as the Commonwealth Games next year.

“I’m pretty excited about it,” Frost said yesterday. “I think we’ll see a new bunch of guys - I don’t think they are quite up with Ian and Grant’s level - but we’ve got some people coming through who could at least fill in the gaps. Just speaking of my own squad, young Hayden Jackson is doing a hell of a job down here and so is Nick Ffrost. They are only little guys but they are doing well and I see them as ones for the future.

“I can assure you there are some very talented young men coming up through the ranks and I think it’s just a matter of time before a couple of them jump up. I’m hoping that a couple of them can jump up there and fill some gaps at the Commonwealth Games. I tell you what it will do, if it doesn’t do anything in the immediate future, it will put people on notice … In one area we’ve got two of the best swimmers in the world [Thorpe and Hackett], but in other areas we’ve got less effective athletes.

“You only have to reflect back to the Olympics in 2000. The women, with exception of about three or four athletes, we didn’t have a very strong team, but the men were good. Then in two years, the women had turned themselves around.

“It doesn’t take much - it might take a little bit more with men because they take longer to mature - but I just see some talent there, guys like Nic Spenger, he’s a real talent, and Ethan Rolff from Kingscliff, he looks good. I see kids that can do anything in say, two years, come the world championships in 2007.”

All coaches look for a Thorpe, and these days Frost is no different. He knows how special Thorpe was - and still is - but said he was sure one like him would emerge - “it’s just a matter of when”. Frost said he had no doubt Thorpe would be able to successfully return after taking a year off competitive swimming. He said the break was something that had been coming since the Sydney Games.

“He is very talented and probably mentally he needed to have that break,” he said. “He was 17 when he swam at his first Olympics and you talk about pressure, there was a lot of pressure on him, and you could see the relief when he got up and swam so well in the 400metres. It was like a huge burden was lifted off his back.

“I think by the time 2004 came around he was probably looking for a break. I don’t think it’s a problem and I think he would have been smart enough to do a little bit of work … I’ve heard he’s doing a pretty good job in training … so I think he’ll be strong when he comes back.

“He’s the best middle-distance swimmer the world has seen, and I don’t think he’s really reached his full potential in that area, but I think the way he is going is to focus more on the 100m freestyle, and he’ll have his work cut out, especially with the boys [Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling] from South Africa. The Commonwealth Games will not be easy for Ian, but it will be good to see him back.”

Hackett may seek 10km spot in Beijing

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Grant Hackett is well known as the force that cannot be beaten over 1,500 metres but now he threatens to extend his kingdom and reign to include the inaugural 10km open-water title in Beijing.

He has started his campaign by asking the International Olympic Committee to schedule the new 10km in the second week of the Beijing Games.

“I would love to compete in the 10km if it is in the second week,” he said. “It is certainly just another challenge to add to my programme. This would not only interest me but a lot of 1500m swimmers around the world would love to compete in an open-water race. It would be in the best interest for the IOC and Fina to put the race in the second week and allow endurance swimmers of the pool to have an opportunity to compete.”

However, Hackett will not race the 10km or even prepare for it to the detriment of his pool events. “I would not do anything to sacrifice my 1500m, 400m, 200m or the 4×200m relay races or any pool events for that matter. I would just keep my focus on the 1500m and hope that is enough to cover the distance that is required to be at the fast end of the pace. You never know what could happen we are talking about a race in three years.”

Hackett wants to swim 10km open water event with IOC’s help

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SYDNEY: Australia’s Olympic and world champion Grant Hackett wants the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to schedule the new 10km open water swim race in the second week of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The Sydney and Athens Olympic 1500m freestyle gold medallist said he was keen to contest the newly-installed race at the next Olympics. “I would love to compete in the 10km if it is in the second week (of the Olympic program),” Hackett said on Saturday. “It is certainly just another challenge to add to my program.” Hackett said the Olympic schedule would be pivotal in his decision to prepare for the race. He said he would only consider racing if the endurance event was scheduled in the second week of the Olympic program, after the entire pool competition was completed.

The champion distance swimmer said he will lobby the IOC and world swim body FINA to position the open water race in the last week of Beijing Olympic competition. “This would not only interest me but a lot of 1500m swimmers around the world would love to compete in an open water race,” he said. “With the current program every (swimmer) has got two events at Olympic level except distance swimmers.

“Distance swimmers have only one opportunity to compete and show their skills and their hard efforts put in to prepare for endurance races. “It would be in the best interest for the IOC and FINA to put the race in the second week and allow endurance swimmers of the pool to have an opportunity to compete.” afp

Hackett plea to IOC over open-water race

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OLYMPIC champion Grant Hackett has asked the International Olympic Committee to schedule the new 10-kilometre open-water swim in the second week of the 2008 Olympic Games so that distance pool swimmers could compete.

The two-time Olympic 1500 metres freestyle gold medallist has welcomed the addition of the endurance swim and said he was keen to contest the race in Beijing.

“I would love to compete in the 10-kilometre if it is in the second week (of the Olympic program),” said Hackett. “It is certainly just another challenge to add to my program.”

Hackett believes he wouldn’t be the only distance pool swimmer keen to contest the open-water race, but said he would only consider racing if the event was scheduled in the second week of the Olympic program, after the entire pool competition was completed. He had put his request to the International Olympic Committee and FINA, the swimming body.

“… a lot of 1500-metre swimmers around the world would love to compete in an open-water race,” he said. “With the current program, every (swimmer) has got two events at Olympic level except distance swimmers.

“Distance swimmers have only one opportunity to compete and show their skills and their hard efforts put in to prepare for endurance races.

“It would be in the best interest for the IOC and FINA to put the race in the second week and allow endurance swimmers of the pool an opportunity to compete.”

With a history-making third consecutive gold medal beckoning at Beijing, and a long-held desire to dethrone Ian Thorpe over 400 metres, the Gold Coast swimmer said he would not jeopardise his pool commitments to chase the first Olympic open-water gold.

“I would not do anything to sacrifice my 1500, 400, 200 or the 4 x 200 relay races or any pool events for that matter,” said Hackett. “I would just keep my focus on the 1500 and hope it is enough to cover the distance that is required to be at the fast end of the pace.”

Hackett, a decorated junior surf lifesaver, said: “I give full credit to the guys there now; they are very competitive and way more experienced than me. I do a fair bit of endurance work training, but I would still have to qualify top two, or whatever the criteria will be, and even if I go and compete, just to earn that (Olympic spot) is a great challenge in itself.

“There is no doubt in a field like that I have probably got more speed, but still I have got to get through 9.9 kilometres of endurance and still be able to do that sprint.

“If it is a sprint finish and I can harness that speed, it is helpful.”

Thorpe and co in for Chinese water torture when sleeping giant wakes

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China is aiming for a revolution in the pool at the 2008 Olympics, writes Michael Cowley.

The greatest challengers to both Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett at the Beijing Olympics will not be from Michael Phelps and the Americans, but from athletes from the home nation.

That is the candid assessment of Thorpe’s manager David Flaskas who, with the champion swimmer, has seen first-hand how the Chinese are preparing for an assault on the swimming events in 2008.

“They are going to be a realistic threat to Ian and Grant in 2008,” Flaskas said. “I think every event is going to be fiercely competed by the Chinese. We’ve been hearing about their freestylers for two years now, they are gearing up, and I think everyone [will] be under siege.

“The sleepers are the Chinese men. I don’t think we’ll see them until Melbourne in 2007 [the world championships] and I think everyone is going to be under siege, not just Ian and Grant but also Michael Phelps.”

Flaskas noted that China had several swimmers who qualified for the 2004 Athens Games but the Chinese chose not to take them. He feels it’s about exposing them at the right time and “catching people a little off guard”, but expects Melbourne 2007 to be like a mini-Olympics.

He added that Australia had become a little obsessed with the Americans and the Europeans, but having seen China’s programs and the numbers they had to call upon, Australia should beware of the Chinese swimmers.

“I think we’ll see a team that is unbelievable. We’d be very naive to disregard what is coming out of China,” said Flaskas.

Flaskas’s sentiments have been echoed around the globe. Britain’s Australian-born coach Bill Sweetenham admitted earlier this year that he believed the Chinese had held back their senior program and hidden their youth program.

Sweetenham said the Chinese would not be showing their hand until 2008, but pointed out that the world youth rankings were dominated by China and Japan.

Australian head coach Alan Thompson said there was no doubt the Chinese men and women would be solid in 2008.

“Irrespective of anything else, the numbers they have say you are going to come up with some talented kids,” Thompson said.

“And they have got an ability to coach and an ability to swim. Even in the old days - whatever they were doing - they still had to be able to swim well to be able to do what they did. I think they are going to be a threat to us in the coming years. It’s not something we’re not thinking about. We’re looking at it.”

To support his argument, Flaskas pointed out that on a recent trip to China he saw a television interview with a member of the Chinese Olympic Committee during which the question was asked what the goals were for 2008.

“It was a chilling reminder to the rest of the world,” Flaskas said. “He said they have got to get stronger in other sports, and that’s why they have a program called ‘one one nine’, which is the 119 gold medals that are tied up in five sports that China don’t dominate, and they are swimming, athletics, cycling, kayaking, and rowing.

Because of their chequered past, suspicions will always be high of China if they have success, particularly if they prosper after a period in which they have not been dominating the sport.

China’s biggest drug scandal came in 1994. After their stunning success at the world titles that year in Rome, where their women won 12 of 16 events, a month later seven swimmers tested positive for the steroid dihydrotestosterone at the Asian Games in Hiroshima.

Then in 1998 China was hit with four more positive steroid tests and the discovery of human growth hormone in the luggage of swimmer Yuan Yuan as she came through Sydney airport en route to the world titles in Perth.

While they have had some positive tests from time to time since, there has not been the spate that occurred in the 1990s. Flaskas said he had no doubt the Chinese programs were drugs-free.

At this year’s world championships in Montreal, American men’s coach Dave Salo brought up the lack of Chinese success, noting they won one silver and four bronze medals.

Salo said it raised suspicions when the Chinese were “not trying to be the best they can be in the world arena”.

“It’s always going to raise suspicions if we go into Beijing and they haven’t done anything in three years and names you never heard of are showing up in finals,” Salo said.

“Maybe they’re waiting for 2008 so they can step up and surprise us. We know they have the athletes. Maybe it’s more important to them to do well in their Chinese Games.”

The Chinese Games will be held in Nanjing in October and, according to Olympic gold medal-winning women’s breaststroker Luo Xuejuan, several Chinese swimmers have focused on those titles rather than the world championships.

“They needed to choose this championship or the national games,” Luo told AP in Montreal.

Hackett to sink Thorpedo, says Perkins

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Mission impossible? Maybe not. Kieren Perkins says Grant Hackett can beat Ian Thorpe over 400 metres in the Beijing Olympic freestyle final - but believes the result will be known before they even hit the water.

For Hackett to conquer Thorpe, Perkins says he must first be able to convince himself that he can do it. If he manages to get himself up on the blocks without being overawed by the imposing man beside him in the big black suit, Perkins insists that Hackett can pull off an unforgettable triumph.

“Based on current form, you’d have to say Grant has got the wood on Ian,” dual Olympic gold medallist Perkins said.

“It’s going to take Ian a little time to get back to normal in the water after his year off but from Grant’s point of view, I also don’t think he’s 100 per cent convinced that he can have Ian covered.

“That’s always been the case, in my view. There’s an element of mental games between those two that will continue for a while to come.”

Thorpe will skip the 400m in his return to top-flight competition at the Commonwealth Games in February, gifting Hackett the title, but the two-time Olympic champion will return to the 400 as Beijing approaches in an attempt to emulate Dawn Fraser’s benchmark of greatness in Australian swimming: three straight Olympic gold medals in the same event.

“Ian is going to have a tough time of it when he comes back,” Perkins said. “Grant is still swimming personal-best times and it’s been a while since Ian has done that.”

The great unknown with Thorpe is how he will be affected by his 12-month absence from competition.

The question of who is greater may end up not being resolved until the Beijing Olympics - and the 400m final.

Phelps adds to his events

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Olympian Michael Phelps will compete in two freestyle races in the World Swimming Championships, looking to expand his skills before the 2008 Olympic Games.

Michael Phelps is in college. He has been experimenting. On Sunday, he will show the world what he has learned.

Phelps, the United States’ most celebrated athlete of the 2004 Athens Games, will hope to make an international splash in the 100- and 400-meter freestyle at the World Swimming Championships in Montreal. Phelps is not a traditional freestyle swimmer and has never competed internationally in the 100 free.

‘’I'm looking forward to being able to swim new events that I’m not used to swimming in world events,'’ said Phelps, a student at the University of Michigan.

The change in Phelps’ international regiment offers a sensational match-up against Australian Grant Hackett. Hackett enters the world championships trying to become the first swimmer in a world championship or Olympics to win four gold medals in four individual freestyle events: 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 free. Entering Montreal, Hackett is three seconds faster than Phelps in the 400. The meet runs through July 31.

Whether Phelps is planning to change his international regiment for the 2008 Beijing Games or whether the young phenom is simply adding a little spice to the swimming world is still unclear. To make room for the 100 and 400 free, Phelps dropped two of his strongest events, the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley. In a teleconference Tuesday, Phelps referred to the world championships as a ‘’baby step'’ on the road to Beijing. He made it clear that nothing is “set in stone.'’

‘’Obviously, I’ve never done this, so it keeps it exciting,'’ Phelps said.

“I want to try new things and have everything set in stone by Beijing.'’

This will be Phelps’ first major international competition since winning more individual medals than any American in one single Olympic Games.

‘’I really feel like this meet will give a true picture of where Mike is fitness wise and where he stands since Athens,'’ said Bob Bowman, Phelps’ coach. “Then we can move forward. This is the first step in preparing for Beijing.'’

This will be Phelps’ third world championships. He competed in the 2001 and 2003 and has won seven medals (five gold and two silver).

Though Phelps hasn’t competed internationally since Athens, the Baltimore native has been quite busy. The highlights include judging the Ms. United States Pageant, appearing on the sidelines during the Super Bowl and a parade through Baltimore.

Phelps has also been the subject of a documentary, which chronicles the everyday life of the international superstar, and the subject of several racy Speedo advertisements.

‘’A year ago I wouldn’t even think my life would be like this,'’ Phelps said. “I’ve had a lot of ups and down. The ups have been really high, and the downs have been really low. But it has been life.'’

The low Phelps referred to was his November DUI arrest. Phelps has attributed the incident to post-Olympic Games depression.

‘’Things can happen in a blink of an eye,'’ Phelps said. “My head wasn’t on straight. It is something I can learn a lot from and something I can pass on to others.'’

More than anything, Phelps says moving away from home and into his Ann Arbor, Mich., town house has helped in the maturing process. He trains with the Wolverine swimming team but does not compete becausehe is a professional athlete.

‘’I have to cook and clean and go the grocery store myself,'’ Phelps said.

Living alone should play to Phelps’ personality. After all, he is a swimmer. He returns to his true comfort zone Sunday.

Australian ladies, U.S. misters to dominate pool

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BEIJING, July 12 (Xinhuanet by Zhang Wei) — The swimming pool has been the intriguing duel place for the Aussies and Americans for long. As the star-studded U.S. men’s team is charging towards the 2005 World Swimming Championships spearheaded by wunderkind Michael Phelps, the Australian ladies are looking forward to a bumper harvest in Montreal from July 24th to 31st.

Following brilliant feats at 2004 Athens Olympics with eight medals including six golds hanging on his neck, 20-year-old Phelpsis supposed to make another sweep in Montreal. Instead of trying to notch up his third consecutive world title in the 200m fly or to win the 400m individual medley world champion twice in a row, the all-round swimmer is determined to show his pace in the freestyle events this time.

Besides the 100m fly and the 200m IM, the prodigy is slated to compete in 100m, 200m and 400m frees. Although the prolific winner’s only individual free medal is a 200m bronze at Athens Olympics, no one will doubt the Baltimore boy’s potential and dedication to prevail.

Among Phelps’ masculine teammates, Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hansen are particularly in shape. As the title holder, Olympic champion and world record holder in both 100m and 200m backstroke,Peisol showed his sensational form by smashing his own 100m world record at national trials in post-Olympic year. As for Hansen, whoholds the world records of 100m and 200m breaststroke, world titles of the two events is in his range.

Moreover, 100m fly world record holder Ian Crocker, veteran free sprinter Jason Lezak and newly-budded distance swimmer JensenLarsen could not be looked down.

Despite of being in the shade of the U.S. male swimmers’ preeminence as a whole, Australian captain Grant Hackett is looking forward to make history for his green and gold team.

First, the 1,500m free is Hackett’s event. Being crowned as thedistance king, Hackett has not lost a race over the distance since1996. This time, the world record holder will attempt to become the first swimmer to win the same FINA World Championship event four times.

What’s more, when “the Thorpedo” is enjoying his sabbatical year, Hackett is going to stroke the solemn mission to combat against American phenomenon Phelps. The two will possibly collide in 200m and 400m freestyles. The 25-year-old Aussie takes up the top spots of this year’s rankings of both events.

In Barcelona, all the six golds of the Australian team were acquired by the men’s team while four out of the American contingent’s 11 golds were credited to their ladies. Therefore, when the United States sends a “girl scout” with an average age under 20 to Montreal, the comparatively seasoned Australian femaleswimmers won’t surrender the chances to reign.

With the absence of title holder, Olympic champion and world record holder Inge de Bruijn from the Netherlands in the 50m free,the favorites will now be Australian duo Alice Mills and Libby Lenton who were second and third respectively at the 2003 swimmingworlds.

Besides, Mills and Jodie Henry are prone to give the Aussies a lock on the gold in the 100m free. The former has the fastest timeof the year and the latter is the Olympic champion and world recordholder.

In women’s breaststrokes, as the runner-up in Barcelona, Australian Brook Hanson will square off against Chinese world champion Luo Xuejuan in the 50m, and the 100m will be a re-run of the Olympic final with medalists Luo, Hanson and another Aussie Leisel Jones, who holds the world record.

Furthermore, since the 200m breaststroke world record holder Amanda Beard of America will not swim in Montreal, the event looks Jones for the taking. The teenage prodigy, who finished withthe silver in both Barcelona and Athens, is due to win her first major individual international gold medal.

When the Aussie-American rivalry intrigues the swimming worlds,swimmers from other nations and districts will strive in the total40 events for making the podiums more colorful.

In the Chinese swimming contingent, 21-year-old Luo undoubtedlybears the upmost expectations. by earning five gold medals in two World Championships and rushing to an Olympic title in Athens, Luohas triumphantly proved herself as one of the best female breaststrokers in the world.

Although people always put a question mark on her fitness afterher collapse at Athens, the winner of 50m and 100m breaststrokes in last two World Championships is still looking forward to a “hattrick” in Montreal.

“I will try my best at this year’s swimming worlds. As long as I go for competitions, I am aiming at the gold, ” Luo said while preparing in Beijing.

Since retired Russia “Tzar” Alexander Popov and recuperating “Flying Dutchman” Pieter vd Hoogenband, as well as Thorpe are unavailable in Montreal, the men’s sprint free events are wide open. Besides Phelps, South Afrian duo Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling, Italian Filippo Magnini and Australian Michael Klim areall in contention.

Defending champion James Gibson of Great Britain and Ukrainian world record holder Oleg Lisogor are heavy contenders in men’s 50mbreaststroke. Meanwhile, Olympic and World champion Kosuke Kitajima has to pull out all the stops in the 100m breaststroke, as the Japanese star surprisingly failed to qualify for the 200m in national trials, not to speak defending his title.

As Phelps bypassing the 400 IM, Hungarian Laszlo Cseh and Italian Alessio Boggiatto are capable of Furthermore, the Americangiant chose to relinquish the 200m fly, leaving a very open field headed perhaps by Olympic finalists Pawel Korzenioski (Poland), WuPeng (China) and Nikolay Skvortsov (Russia).

In women’s backstrokes, German Janine Pietsch must be the favourite for the 50m after setting a new world record at her national championships in May. When the 100m looks like a lock forAmerican world record holder Natalie Coughlin, Kirsty Coventry, who secured the first ever swimming gold at the Olympics for Zimbabwe, will show her competitiveness in the 200m again at the upcoming World Championships.

Actually, there are still more swimmers worth of noticing: French girl Laure Manaudou, the top finisher in women’s 400m free final in Athens. Ukraine’s individual medley queen Yana Klochkova,the first swimmer ever to win both IMs in back-to-back Olympics. German Thomas Rupprath, who holds the world record of men’s 50m backstroke. Enditem.