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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Grant hopes he’ll still Hackett
AUSTRALIAN swim team captain Grant Hackett hasn’t ruled out going for a historic fourth Olympic gold medal at the 2012 London Games.
Hackett was a big fan of London’s bid for a third Olympics and said yesterday that the city’s win could tempt him to continue racing into his early thirties.
No Australian athlete has ever won gold medals in the same event at four successive Olympics and Hackett will be gunning for a hat-trick in the 1500m freestyle at the 2008 Beijing games.
“I never planned to retire after Beijing and I certainly plan on going a couple of years [after Beijing],” said Hackett, as he left for the 2005 swimming world championships in Montreal with the Australian team.
“Whether I go all the way to London as an athlete or in another role, I’ll certainly be there for the opening of the pool and the new stadium and things like that. It’s a very exciting time.
“I’ll be 31 or 32 years of age in that year, so I think physically I’ll be able to do it,” Hackett said.
“A lot of athletes these days – when you look at anything from track running to rowing or anything track and field – an athlete’s body is almost peaking at the age of 30 or 31.
“It’s whether I’m willing to go up that black line.
“[But] I certainly think Beijing is not a long enough time for me to see out my career and my potential.
“I’ll certainly go a couple of years past that, but whether I’ll go all the way to 2012 I’ll have to wait and see.”
Hackett’s Olympic win over Thorpe
During their impressive swimming careers, it has not been too often that Grant Hackett has been able to go head-to-head with Ian Thorpe and beat him, but he notched a rare “Olympic” victory over his adversary on Wednesday.
But this time, there was not a pool, water or a painted black line involved. Hackett’s Olympic success came because he had been on board the London 2012 bid, while Thorpe had thrown his support behind the New York bid.
“Yeah, I’m thrilled. I backed a winner there, and it’s also nice to get one up on Thorpie, who was backing New York. I won this race,” Hackett said yesterday as the Australian swimming team left Sydney for the world championships in Montreal.
The team will spend two weeks in camp in Florida before flying to Canada for the titles, which begin on July 24.
“I never planned to retire after Beijing (Olympics in 2008) and I certainly plan to go on a couple of years after that,” Hackett said.
“Whether I go all the way to London as an athlete or perhaps play another role, I don’t know.
“It’s a very exciting time and I’m very proud to be associated with the London bid that was successful,” he said.
Hackett gets one over Thorpe
During their impressive swimming careers, it’s not too often that Grant Hackett has been able to go head-to-head with Ian Thorpe and beat him, but he notched a rare “Olympic” victory over his adversary yesterday.
This time there wasn’t a pool involved. Hackett’s Olympic success came because he had been supporting the London 2012 bid, while Thorpe had thrown his weight behind the New York effort.
“Yeah, I’m thrilled. I backed a winner there, and it’s also nice to get one up on Thorpie, who was backing New York. I won this race,” said Hackett yesterday as the Australian team left Sydney for the world championships in Montreal. They will spend two weeks in camp in Florida before flying into Canada for the titles, from July 24.
“I never planned to retire after Beijing and I certainly plan to go on a couple of years after that,” Hackett said. “Whether I go all the way to London as an athlete or perhaps play another role, I don’t know. It’s a very exciting time and I’m very proud to be associated with the London bid that was successful.”
Asked what would determine whether he would still be swimming in 2012, Hackett said: “Purely motivation. I think physically I’ll be 31 or 32, so physically I’ll still be able to do it. These days an athlete’s body is almost at its peak around the age of 30, 31, it’s whether I’m willing to go up and down that black line.
“I certainly think Beijing is not a long enough time for me to see out my career or potential, and I’ll certainly go a couple of years past that but whether I go all the way to 2012, I’ll have to see.”
Hackett will have a huge program of events in Montreal. He’ll swim the 200 metres, 400m, 800m and 1500m as well as the 4 x 200m relay and he’s the team captain. While he admits he’ll just be happy for good swims in the shorter events, he says his training indicates he is ready for something fast times in the longer races.
“I’m feeling tired just thinking about it actually, you’ll be carting me out on a stretcher at the end of the week,” he said of his program. “It’s a lot of events and a challenge but that’s what I enjoy about the sport.
“In the 800m and 1500m, I’ve had a lot of big improvements there in my training sets doing things that I’ve never been able to achieve before. And I always find it nice in the post-Olympic year because the pressure is off and you almost press the refresh button. I’d like to get good results at these world championships but I’m not really worried.”
Hackett said he considered the Australians were underdogs behind the United States team.
London a home away from home for Aussies
Australian athletes will be right at home at the 2012 Olympics.
When IOC president Jacques Rogge ripped open the envelope and announced the winner in Singapore, the word London was sweet music to Australia’s Olympic movement.
“It’s a very good result for Australia,” said an elated AOC president John Coates.
“The Australian Olympic Committee has long had a very close relationship with the British Olympic Association.
“I think that we’ll be well treated and it’s a city a lot of Australians are familiar with.”
Best of all, it makes the recent decision to set up a European training base for Australia’s Olympians look a very canny one indeed.
The design work is about to begin on the purpose-built facility in the northern Italian town of Varese, at the foothills of the Alps near the Swiss border.
The 50-bed centre is due for completion next year.
It will provide accommodation, sports science and medicine, training facilities, transport, athlete support services and offer storage for bulky equipment such as boats and sails.
The federal government rubber-stamped the plan earlier this year, and the May budget included an $11 million allocation for the centre as part of an overall package of $52.3 million for high performance sports.
The provincial government in Italy has also contributed $8 million towards building costs.
According to AOC secretary general Craig Phillips, the centre will do a lot to nullify the geographic disadvantage that has long hampered Australia’s athletes in Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
And the London decision might also mean it will be expanded over the next seven years.
“I think it’s a great move, and it will be very good for us now that we know with certainty that we’re heading for a Games back in Europe,” Phillips said.
“It’ll also be handy leading into Beijing because a lot of our sports are fairly Eurocentric.
“Over time a number of our sports have developed their own strategies of getting themselves home bases in and around Europe.
“This gives us an opportunity to pull them together and get some economy of scale (for) support services like sport science and sport medicine that they were missing out on.
“It’s a great opportunity for all this to come together.”
Phillips said the base, which is handy to the main airport for Milan and direct flights into London, would also be a great springboard for test events in the leadup to London 2012.
“It will be a home away from home for us,” he said.
Plenty of Australian expertise helped secure the bid, most notably Jim Sloman, whose planning brilliance was instrumental in making the Sydney 2000 Games go like clockwork.
The London bid was largely modelled on the Sydney Games.
Phillips said it was likely that many Australians who worked for the Sydney organising committee SOCOG would find their way into the London team.
NSW Premier Bob Carr said his state would set up a secretariat in London to help coordinate Australia’s contribution to the Games.
Coates said London’s success would ultimately make British athletes more competitive.
“They’re now going to have a London Olympic Institute of Sport on the Docklands site, and they’re going to be a real threat to us in terms of where we rank in the medal tally in 2012, if not 2008,” he said.
In the 2004 Games in Athens, Britain finished 10th on the overall table with 30 medals, nine of them gold. Australia was fourth with 49 medals, including 17 gold.
Australia has already set a target of staying in the top five nations on the medal tally in both Beijing and London.
Olympic bosses weren’t the only Australians beaming at the IOC’s decision in favour of London.
Cathy Freeman and Grant Hackett, who supported the London bid, were ecstatic.
Hackett sets sights on London bid
Australian swim team captain Grant Hackett hasn’t ruled out shooting for an historic fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal at the 2012 London Games.
Hackett was a big supporter of London’s bid for a third Olympics and said the city’s win had left him tempted to continue racing into his early 30s.
No Australian athlete has ever won four gold medals in the same event at four successive Olympics and Hackett will be gunning for a hat-trick in the 1500m freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Games.
Legendary swimmer Dawn Fraser remains the benchmark for Australian Olympians, having snared gold in the women’s 100m freestyle at the 1956 Melbourne Games, at Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964.
Come 2012, Hackett could well be the new standard bearer.
“I never planned to retire after Beijing and I certainly plan on going a couple of years (after Beijing),” Hackett said before leading the Australian team to the 2005 world championships in Montreal.
“Whether I go all the way to London and there as an athlete or in another role, I’ll certainly be there for the opening of the pool and the new stadium and things like that.
“It’s a very exciting time.”
The 25-year-old Queenslander said his decision whether or not to continue racing until 2012 would depend on “purely motivation”.
“I’ll be 31 to 32 years of age in that year, so I think physically I’ll be able to do it,” Hackett said.
“A lot of athletes these days - when you look at anything from track running to rowing or anything track and field, an athlete’s body is almost peaking at the age of 30, 31.
“It’s whether I’m willing to go up that black line (but) I certainly think Beijing is not a long enough time for me to see out my career and my potential.
“I’ll certainly go a couple of years past that, but whether I’ll go all the way to 2012 I’ll have to wait and see.”
Hackett said it was important not to get caught up in the hype of possibly creating history.
His more immediate focus was on this month’s world titles.
“Everyone was talking three (gold medals) after I won one and now they’re talking four after I’ve won two, so it’s almost as though I’ve got to take one Olympiad at a time,” he said.
“Certainly at this time I’ve been happy with my form post-Athens and I’m extremely motivated now that I’ve got a couple of new rivals.
“They’ve certainly brought their 1500m times down and are going to be competitive over this next Olympiad and particularly Beijing and, for me, it’s (about) getting these world championships out of the way and then focusing on the next goal.
“I’m probably not trying to think about a third Olympic gold medal and particularly a fourth at this stage.”
A team of 38 Australian swimmers and divers, sans five-times Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe, flew out for Canada, with the 15-day world championship meet getting underway next Thursday.
The divers compete for a week until the 24th, when the swimming starts.
Thorpe has taken this year off from competition in order to freshen up for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Hackett might stay on for 2012
AUSTRALIA swim team captain Grant Hackett hasn’t ruled out shooting for an historic fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Hackett was a big supporter of London’s bid for a third Olympics and today said the city’s win had left him tempted to continue racing into his early 30s.
No Australian athlete has ever won four gold medals in the same event at four successive Olympics and Hackett will be gunning for a hat-trick in the 1500m freestyle at the 2008 Beijing games.
“I never planned to retire after Beijing and I certainly plan on going a couple of years (after Beijing) Hackett said today before leaving the Australian team to the 2005 swimming world championships in Montreal.
“Whether I go all the way to London and there as an athlete or in another role, I’ll certainly be there for the opening of the pool and the new stadium and things like that. It’s a very exciting time.”
The 23-year-old Queenslander said his decision whether or not to continue racing until 2012 would depend on “purely motivation”.
“I’ll be 31-32 years of age in that year, so I think physically I’ll be able to do it,” Hackett said.
“A lot of athletes these days - when you look at anything from track running to rowing or anything track and field, an athlete’s body is almost peaking at the age of 30, 31.
“It’s whether I’m willing to go up that black line (but) I certainly think Beijing is not a long enough time for me to see out my career and my potential.
“I’ll certainly go a couple of years past that, but whether I’ll go all the way to 2012 I’ll have to wait and see.”
Thorpe may swim on if NY hosts Olympics
Ian Thorpe will consider extending his swimming career by four years if New York wins the right to host the 2012 Olympics.
Thorpe, who is currently taking a year’s sabbatical from competitive swimming, has said previously said he would retire after the Beijing Games in 2008.
But he said if the Olympics were awarded to New York, he would seriously consider staying in swimming until then, when he would be almost 30.
Thorpe, Australia’s greatest Olympian with five gold medals, feels a special affinity with New York.
He was to have been in the World Trade Centre at the time of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and considers himself a survivor of that day.
Accordingly he has thrown his name behind the New York bid.
Paris and London are considered the leading contenders among the five competing cities (New York, Madrid and Moscow are the others).
The host city will be announced after a vote by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Singapore on Wednesday evening, Australian time.
“I really do feel that it takes a foreigner to appreciate the intricacies and the depth of New York City,” Thorpe told the ABC.
“I think the world knows what New York can do, I know what New York can do, I’m passionate about this bid and I really do believe in it.
“That’s why I’m prepared to support it, that’s why I want to be there in 2012.
“If New York hosts the Olympic Games I’ll definitely reconsider my retirement from the sport after 2008 and that’s only if New York gets the games.”
Thorpe’s endorsement is not shared by Australia’s other great modern Olympic heroes hero Cathy Freeman and Grant Hackett, who are supporting the London bid, along with football superstar David Beckham.
Asked if she agreed with Thorpe, Freeman replied: “I think he is (wrong).”
“I have no doubt that all the countries going for these Games are giving it everything. So I applaud all those other teams, and I applaud Thorpey, he’s a nice guy.
“There’s so much passion in this bid, its quite amazing. I’ve experienced this kind of intensity before but from a different perspective.”
The contest has split some of Australia’s best known sporting figures. Former rugby captain John Eales is supporting Paris, and former world boxing champion Kostya Tszyu is supporting Moscow.
Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper said the decision was still up in the air.
“I think that there are still quite a number of voting members who haven’t finally decided where to place their vote, but they would certainly have a view by now,” he told Channel Ten
Thorpe and Freeman are just two of a host of the world’s greatest sports stars, from boxing great Muhammad Ali to football icon David Beckham, who are stealing the headlines in Singapore.
IOC president Jacques Rogge, who has promised a clean vote has also said the razzle and dazzle created by the star athletes should not shift the focus away from stringent selection criteria the five cities must meet.
Still, with the contest expected to be extremely close, the pulling power of the stars has proved too tempting for all the rival cities.
Ali, a 1960 Olympic gold medallist, joins Thorpe, Senator Hilary Clinton, New York native Bob Beamon, whose world record jump at the 1968 Mexico Olympics stood for 23 years, former gymnastic queen Nadia Comaneci, and US track star Jackie Joyner Kersee in supporting New York.
Madrid has pulled in its brightest stars such as National Basketball Association player Pau Gasol, five-time Tour de France champion Miguel Indurain and retired women’s tennis champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.
Spanish royalty is represented by Queen Sofia and the political beef is provided by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
France, considered an uneasy front-runner in the race, has mobilised basketball star Tony Parker, Marie-Jose Perec of athletics, Laurent Blanc of football, Stephane Diagaana also of athletics and judo great David Douillet, along with President Jacques Chirac.
London has rolled out their heavy guns such as Beckham, who has legions of fans in Asia, and his pop star wife Victoria of the Spice Girls fame.
Princess Anne leads the British royalty’s presence with Prime Minister Tony Blair heading the political charm offensive.
Moscow has sent a more low-key delegation but even they have star power in the form of former swimming sprint king Alexander Popov, who is also an IOC member, and Olympic gymnast champion Alexei Nemov.
LONDON 2012: Stunning Olympic Stadium images unveiled
London 2012 has released stunning new images of the state-of-the-art Olympic Stadium at the heart of the capital’s plans.
/noticias.info/ The computer-generated images illustrate how a stadium purpose-built for Athletics would provide an unrivalled experience for both spectators and competitors.
The pictures also show how revolutionary technology would allow the 80,000-seat stadium to be reconfigured to a 25,000 capacity Athletics arena after the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games had finished.
The stadium would provide a permanent home for international Athletics in the capital as well as housing the London Olympic Institute - a permanent legacy of the Games comprising training and medical facilities and a centre for the study of the Olympic Movement.
Athletes and stadium experts praised London’s unique approach to the design of the the stadium.
Double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes said: “To have a dedicated 25,000 seat athletics venue in London after the Games will be just amazing.
“We really need a first-class stadium that will be used to host other championships and for local community events.”
Rod Sheard, Principal of HOK Sport, the world’s largest and most influential sports architecture practice, said: “London is creating a stadium that retains Athletics as its long-term primary sport and this has not been done in recent Olympic history.
“And they are creating a state-of-the-art stadium that is able to shrink or grow to meet the demands of the sport it will be built for.”
“The ensuing decades will see stadia like London 2012’s proposed Olympic Stadium.”
Former Olympic sprinter and London 2012 Vice Chairman Alan Pascoe explained how a stadium purpose-built for Athletics would benefit spectators.
“Spectators will be able to see the runners in all eight lanes around the bends and down the home straight from their seats and without having to stand up or move to other viewing locations,” he said.
London has also revealed internal images of the Aquatics Centre, which would be located adjacent to the main stadium within the Olympic Park.
Australian Swimming gold medallist Grant Hackett said: “The interior design of the new Aquatic Centre in the east of London is fantastic.
“I was impressed by the outside visuals, but these new images are great - each competition pool has a spectator arena around it, which means there will be a great atmosphere for the events.”
The Aquatics Centre will be built regardless of the result of London’s bid and work on the site is already underway.
A glimpse of London Olympics
New images of London’s proposed Olympic stadium have been released less than two weeks before the host city for the 2012 Games is chosen.
If London’s bid is successful, the 80,000-seat stadium would be built in Stratford, east London.
The artist’s impressions also show the inside of the arena after the Games, when it would be turned into a 25,000-seat athletics complex.
The building would also house the London Olympic Institute, a new hub of sports medicine and research for elite and community athletes.
World renowned stadium architect Rod Sheard said the complex, which would not change its main sport after the Games, would be a model for future bidding and host cities.
“London is creating a stadium that retains athletics as its long term primary sport and this has not been done in recent Olympic history.”
During the Games, high-profile athletics events as well as the opening and closing ceremonies would take place in the arena.
London 2012 vice chairman Alan Pascoe said: “Spectators will be able to see the runners in all eight lanes around the bends and down the home straight from their seats and without having to stand up or move.”
“I would love to have run in a stadium like this in London in front of a home crowd,” said dual Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes.
“To have a dedicated 25,000 seat athletics venue in London after the Games will be just amazing. We really need a first class stadium that will be used to host other championships in the future and for local community events,” Holmes added.
Sports minister Richard Carbon said the “visionary” plans would transform the deprived East End and show the rest of the country that first-class design could exist in any city.
Images of the new aquatics centre, which will be built even if the bid fails, have also been released.
Australian Olympic gold medallist and London 2012 ambassador Grant Hackett praised the design.
“Each competition pool has a spectator arena around it, which means there will be a great atmosphere for the events.
“As an athlete I know just how important this is.”
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