Captaincy fits Hackett

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Grant Hackett is such an outstanding, down-to-earth leader that he will retain the captaincy of the Australian swimming team even when Ian Thorpe returns from his 12-month hiatus before the Beijing Olympics.

Australia’s head coach, Alan Thompson, said yesterday that Hackett, the first swimmer to be given the prestigious position, was guaranteed to stay at the helm regardless of Thorpe’s comeback to competition next year.

“Grant has been appointed the captain and there is no length of time on that appointment,” Thompson said.

“He’s just a natural leader, Grant. He leads by example in the way he prepares himself, the way he carries himself, his ability to talk to you guys in the media and in any kind of public situation.

“He’s been outspoken with his views over the past couple of years and his image is very good with the public, as it should be. He’s the sort of person who is a good face for our team. He’ll be captain when Ian comes back. Us giving him the role had nothing to do with Ian.”

Hackett and Thorpe are genuine legends of their sport but only Thorpe has managed to become a global sporting commodity.

But while Thorpe is the more recognisable face, Hackett is the more approachable of the two.

It’s no slight on Thorpe but Hackett is deemed to be more like one of the boys - and girls.

“He’s got this amazing ability to rub shoulders with the 15-year-olds and also his older mates, then the next minute he’ll be rubbing shoulders with [IOC president] Jacques Rogge and he’s exactly the same person,” one team member said. “He can go from a pair of board shorts to a suit and tie and be just as comfortable in either. He makes people feel relaxed. He’s got this aura about him but it’s not an imposing thing.”

Hackett was showing leadership qualities well before his appointment.

Among the numerous anecdotes is the story about him putting his hand in his own pocket to pay for medallions he presented to the rookies on the team before the 2003 world championships.

Between them, Hackett and Thorpe have produced some memorable races over the last five years.

Thorpe set the 2000 Olympics alive with his opening night heroics, winning the 400 metres freestyle after a year of non-stop hype, then mowing down America’s Gary Hall jnr to give Australia the 4×100m freestyle relay with his last stroke.

Hackett finished the Sydney Games by taking the 1500m crown from Kieren Perkins in another highly emotional and captivating race.

He has since battled a long list of illnesses and overcome the pressure of favouritism to become the king of the 1500m, with his victory at Athens rated by many team members as their personal highlight.

Thorpe’s absence from the Montreal world titles from July 17-31 appeared to hand Hackett the 400m title on a platter, but US dynamo Michael Phelps, who overshadowed the Australians with his eight medals in Athens, has emerged as a shock starter in the eight-lap race.

Hackett versus Phelps is just as appetising as Phelps and Thorpe would have been.

Record makes Peirsol untouchable for world titles: Hackett

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AMERICAN backstroker Aaron Peirsol will go to the world championships in July as an “untouchable” after breaking the 100 metres world record at the US trials, according to Australian team captain Grant Hackett.

Triple Olympic gold medallist Peirsol shocked himself yesterday when he took the world record within reach of the once-unimaginable 53-second barrier.

He clocked 53.17sec, almost a third of a second faster than the standard he set leading off the winning American medley relay at the Olympics (53.45sec).

The normally laidback Californian was flabbergasted by the result, given that he took a four-month break after the Olympics and didn’t resume full training until January.

“I think it’s rare to surprise yourself like that,” Peirsol said.

“I don’t think I’m in peak shape right now, which is very good for Montreal.”

Peirsol is more than half a second clear of the pack, including the next fastest active swimmer, Australian record-holder Matt Welsh (53.78sec). Hackett cannot see a challenger for the American in either the 100m or 200m.

“I think he will be untouchable at the world championships,” Hackett said. “He’s really gaining a monopoly on those events.”

However, Hackett does not predict the same invincibility for another American, six-time Olympic champion Michael Phelps, who is making a move into Australia’s middle-distance domain this year.

Phelps won the 200m and 400m freestyle on the first two days in Indianapolis, and confirmed afterwards “freestyle is my main stroke right now”.

He has dropped two of his Olympic gold medal events, the 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley.

That will automatically turn his clash with fellow multiple Olympic champion Hackett, in the 400m freestyle, into one of the highlights of the world championships.

The Olympic silver medallist in this event, Hackett is already missing his regular sparring partner Ian Thorpe, who has taken a year out of competition, and will relish the Phelps challenge.

“Having Michael in the event has already sparked a lot of interest in it and I enjoy that,” Hackett said.

“I have been swimming for so many years and the more high-profile the event, the more pressure there is, the more credibility it has. That’s the way I like it.”

Phelps is equally enthusiastic.

“I want to try other events and I want to race the best,” Phelps said.

“Without Thorpe swimming the 400, Hackett’s the best guy in the world in that event.”

Phelps’ winning 400m time of 3:47.79 was almost pedestrian compared with Hackett’s 3:44.44 in Sydney last month, but Hackett predicted the American would shed time rapidly in the three months before the world titles.

“He will be fitter by July, no doubt,” Hackett said.

“He will be substantially faster. The fact that he’s doing the race is enough to know that a good swim will be required to win.

“The 200m is more his forte but I think he could get down to a 3:41, 42, 43 (Hackett’s best is 3:42.51). He’s an incredible athlete.”

But Hackett said Phelps’ presence would not distract him from his own performance in Montreal.

“Hopefully then, the result will go my way,” he said.

Phelps was more impressive in the 200m final, clocking 1:46.44 – slightly slower than Hackett’s trials time of 1:46.20. The Americans showed formidable depth in the event. The first four broke 1:49, underlining the challenge the Australians face to defend their world 4×200m freestyle title without Thorpe, after losing the Olympic crown to their arch-rivals last year.

The American women, also the Olympic champions, are struggling for depth in the 200m. That creates an outstanding opportunity for Australia’s most under-achieving relay to finally claim the world 4×200m title.

The latest American prodigy, 15-year-old Katie Hoff, was a surprise winner in 1:59.56.

Hoff was dynamic in the 200m individual medley, winning in a US record of 2:11.24. She will present a considerable obstacle to Brooke Hanson’s ambitions in that event.

Hackett joins Freeman to help London

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BRISBANE: Olympic and world swimming champion Grant Hackett yesterday joined another Australian sporting icon Cathy Freeman in backing London’s bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

Hackett, the triple Olympic gold medallist and seven-times world champion, was announced here as one of London’s sporting ambassadors as the British capital canvasses support ahead of the July 6 vote of International Olympic Committee (IOC) members in Singapore.

London is vying with Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow to host the Olympics in seven years’ time.

“Grant will act as one of our international ambassadors and he understands what our bid is about,�? London bid committee chairman Sebastian Coe told a press conference after presenting his city’s candidature at the Oceania Olympic National Committee (ONOC) general assembly yesterday.

Hackett, who was recently named captain of Australia’s swimming team for this year’s Montreal world championships, said he was impressed by London’s plans to host the Games.

“I was in the UK in November and saw the plans that London has submitted to the IOC and they look really impressive,�? Hackett said.

“It seems that Seb Coe and his team has covered all the elements to make a great Olympics. The athletes’ welfare is very much in mind and the Olympic Park plans echo those that were so good in Sydney (2000 Olympics), many venues in one place.

“London has already committed to building the Aquapark and building is underway. This will give Great Britain a state-of-the-art swimming competition venue.�?

Freeman, Australia’s track darling of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has also endorsed London’s bid and she featured prominently in the promotional video at the city’s presentation before Oceania delegates here Saturday.

Coe, who only arrived Saturday after attending the funeral of his mother in England, said he sensed momentum was swinging behind London in the final three month countdown to Singapore.

“We have certainly won over the hearts of the vast majority of people at home,�? he said.

Hackett dives in for London’s bid to host Games

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The Grant Hackett-Ian Thorpe duel will continue out of the pool after Hackett was yesterday named as an ambassador for London’s 2012 Olympic bid.

With Thorpe a high-profile spruiker for the New York bid, the two swimmers will go head to head before the vote in Singapore on July 6 to determine which city will host the 2012 Games.

“I went to London in November and I liked what I saw,” Hackett said.

London and New York will be up against Madrid, Paris and Moscow.

London used Cathy Freeman in its pitch to seven Oceania International Olympic Committee members in Brisbane yesterday. Freeman told them, via video, that the security, transport and accommodation benefits of the London bid would be “a dream for the athletes”.

But Thorpe, also on video, said New York would provide an incredible Olympics and “that is what everyone is striving towards”.

Basketballer Lauren Jackson was also on the New York tape, enthusing about how many people would come to watch a New York Games.

Thorpe was in New York at the time of the September 11 terrorist attacks and has since been a strong supporter of the city.

New York bid chairman Dan Doctoroff has tried to placate IOC concerns about entry into the US, after tough anti-terrorist measures, by launching a 24-hour hotline to deal with inquiries in 170 languages.

“I used to hear that visas and the difficulty in getting in [to the US] was an obstacle, but that is a strength now,” Mr Doctoroff said.

New York, with the agreement of the US Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, has an “Olympic leaders” travel program to meet Olympic officials at the airport and assist them through customs.

London bid chairman Sebastian Coe said the city’s bid had picked up momentum after a stuttering start.

“People are telling us now we are [being] taken seriously, that this is a serious bid,” he said.

Coe said Hackett was asked to be an ambassador because the Australian swimmer was a first-rate athlete.

“He [Hackett] will be taking a close watching brief in the development of our aquatic centre and advising on issues relating to broader participation in Olympic sport,” he said.

“[He is] somebody who has a first-rate track report and not just domestically but internationally as well.”

Paris has had the enthusiastic support of former Australian rugby union captain John Eales, among others.

Meanwhile, the Beijing opening ceremony will start at 8pm on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008. Eight is considered a lucky number in China.