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IAN THORPE may be forced to delay his long-awaited return to competition yet again as he recovers from a broken hand.

Thorpe was forced to withdraw from last month’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne because of glandular fever and was just returning to full training when he broke a bone in his right hand in a fall at his Sydney home 10 days ago.

He had a screw inserted in the bone in a simple operation last Thursday but has been advised not to swim until the wound has healed and there is no danger of infection.
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IAN THORPE may be forced to delay his long-awaited return to competition yet again as he recovers from a broken hand.

Thorpe was forced to withdraw from last month’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne because of glandular fever and was just returning to full training when he broke a bone in his right hand in a fall at his Sydney home 10 days ago.

He had a screw inserted in the bone in a simple operation last Thursday but has been advised not to swim until the wound has healed and there is no danger of infection.
(more…)

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SWIM champ Michael Klim has celebrated the biggest victory of his life, marrying his Balinese princess, Lindy Rama.

The couple tied the knot at 4pm yesterday at the St Joan of Arc church in Brighton.

They were joined by several of Klim’s high-profile sports mates, along with friends and family.

In an emotional entrance, a stunning Ms Rama walked down the aisle with the couple’s three-month-old daughter, Stella, in her arms.
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Pieter Van den Hoogenband clocked 49.86 and 1:47.55 over 100 and 200m freestyle at home at the Eindhoven meet and is now aiming to race again in Belgium next month as he warms up to do battle with Italy’s Filippo Magnini and Britain’s Simon Burnett, among others, at the European Championships in Budapest in August.

At the same meet in Holland, Nina Jivanevskaya, the former Russian who races for Club Natación Torremolinos and Spain, clocked 29.34sec over 50 metres backstroke to book her place in Budapest. Her Spain teammate Olaf Wildeboer set a national record of 1:49.09 behind Van Den Hoogenband over 200m freestyle, while his brother Aschwin swam inside the qualification target for Budapest over 50m backstroke, in 25.94.
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Pieter Van den Hoogenband clocked 49.86 and 1:47.55 over 100 and 200m freestyle at home at the Eindhoven meet and is now aiming to race again in Belgium next month as he warms up to do battle with Italy’s Filippo Magnini and Britain’s Simon Burnett, among others, at the European Championships in Budapest in August.

At the same meet in Holland, Nina Jivanevskaya, the former Russian who races for Club Natación Torremolinos and Spain, clocked 29.34sec over 50 metres backstroke to book her place in Budapest. Her Spain teammate Olaf Wildeboer set a national record of 1:49.09 behind Van Den Hoogenband over 200m freestyle, while his brother Aschwin swam inside the qualification target for Budapest over 50m backstroke, in 25.94.
(more…)

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IAN Thorpe is on the verge of buying a $1 million property in the exclusive Los Angeles beachside suburb of Santa Monica, which he plans to use as his main base for the two years leading up to the Beijing Olympics.

His manager, Dave Flaskas, confirmed exclusively last week that Thorpe had been in LA looking at properties for both residential and investment purposes.

“Ian needs to race a lot before Beijing and the USA offers the chance to race weekly at an elite level in the US college system,” Flaskas said.

“He, Tracey [his coach, Tracey Menzies] and Australian head coach Alan Thompson are working out a race schedule which will see him racing throughout the USA and Europe leading up to 2008.”

Thorpe is unsure if he will be forced to enrol so he can take part in the collegiate swimming season.

“He wants to do a lot of altitude training in Colorado and Arizona, but he will still do a lot back here with Tracey in Australia.”

Thorpe knows he is well short of racing practice, which he sees as crucial to success in Beijing.

He has done very little racing since the Athens Olympics but plans to make up for it in the next two years. Big swimming meetings in Europe are also on the agenda.

We also know Thorpe’s penchant for shopping would be a factor in deciding on LA as a base - along with New York, it is considered a shopping capital of the US.

Meanwhile, Olympic and world champion Grant Hackett will return to competitive swimming next month following shoulder surgery.

Hackett says his comeback is well ahead of schedule and he’ll compete in the 400-metre freestyle at a Telstra grand prix meet in Brisbane in three weeks.

“I am just so happy being back and the smile has returned knowing that I’m on the right track,” Hackett said.

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TWO-time Australian open water champion Kate Brookes-Petersen will attempt an impressive hat-trick on Monday when the world championship trials begin at Sydney’s Manly dam.

The Redcliffe-based swimmer, who trains under Ken Wood, has won the past two national titles in both the 5km and 10km and has emerged as a gold medal contender in the longer event for the Beijing Olympics.

Next week she will aim to defend both titles and snare her second world championship berth in the wake of her disastrous first attempt last year when she swam off course in Montreal and lost her lead, finishing towards the back of the pack.

“I went down to look at the 10km course the day before the swim and should have checked it again on the day of the race because a buoy had been moved overnight,” Brookes-Petersen said.

“But it wasn’t just missing the buoy that affected me.

“I went out really hard and led for about 7km but I didn’t realise that there was a whole bunch of girls just swimming off me who were using me as a pace-setter. With 3km to go they gunned it and I had absolutely nothing left.”

Brookes-Petersen is hoping to become one of just 10 Australians selected to contest the world championships in Naples, Italy, later this year in the lead-up to Beijing where open-water events are being included in the Olympic program for the first time.

Olympic champion Grant Hackett and former ironman-turned-swimmer Ky Hurst are among a handful of pool swimmers who have indicated they might dip their toes in the new Olympic event for an extra shot at a gold medal.

Hackett is not expected to compete at Manly next week but Hurst, who is the reigning Australian 5km champion, will turn out in the 5km and 10km events. It is the first time Hurst has swum the 10km at a national titles and the part-time ironman admits the Olympic inclusion has attracted his interest.

“It opens it up for a new event to qualify in and it’s a better opportunity to make a team in swimming, and it suits the distance swimmers like me,” he said. “But I’m still working on my pool swimming and hoping to qualify for the Olympics in that as well.”

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WE were reminded in a beautiful and memorable way this week that sport dishes up more theatre than most human endeavours.

In an ordinary stadium in the middle of cricket’s version of Siberia, a 31-year-old fast bowler performed such extraordinary deeds that even people who don’t care for the sport were drawn to talk about it.

Jason “Dizzy” Gillespie, a bloke more famous for his old mullet haircut and his bowling prowess than his ability to bat, scored 201 not out after coming in as a night watchman in the second Test against Bangladesh.

Gillespie was fighting for his cricketing life. He was recalled to the Test team after injuries to key bowlers left selectors with little choice than to bring him back at the end of a very, very long summer.

Some thought he would return for one Test only and then head back to the Pura Cup in time for the big guns to return for the Ashes battle later this year. He certainly looked pleased to be back, new haircut and all. And he bowled pretty well in the first innings, collecting three wickets.

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Former Australian head of selectors Trevor Hohns would have cringed as he watched the next 10 hours of cricket unfold in dramatic style.

Playing way out of his comfort zone Dizzy came to the crease as a nightwatchman. He had sat in the pavilion at Chittagong and had a short break while the two openers went out to bat.

Ponting sent him in at the end of the first day’s play hoping he could protect his wicket long enough to get the Australian innings back on track.

Not even his captain could have predicted what was about to unfold. Gillespie put his head down and faced what seemed like 1000 balls before he scored his first Test century. That in itself was remarkable.

I walked into a dress shop in Sydney’s eastern suburbs the morning after Dizzy had scored the century. He was on 102 not out and the lady behind the counter was talking to a colleague about Gillespie’s extraordinary feats. These were not people normally drawn to talk sport - they, like so many other Australians, were captured by the rarity of such an achievement.

The pair said they couldn’t wait to finish so they could race home to see if he could go on with it. He did.

Batting with Mike Hussey, Dizzy put his head down and smiled to himself every time he scored another run. Hussey reminded him of the milestones - “You just went past Michael Clarke’s best (151), Mark Waugh’s (153), Steve Waugh’s (200) and Boonie’s (200),” he said.

Finally, Ponting declared with Gillespie on 201 not out. Surely this was one of the greatest achievements by a bowler with the bat in cricketing history. Nine-and-a-half hours at the crease, 425 balls faced and only 103 scoring shots. It was an innings of patience and pure concentration. Selector Merv Hughes said Gillespie knew his limitations and strengths and played to them.

Gillespie is one of those blokes who seldom gives himself a rap. He has a great sense of humour. Always wry and self-deprecating, he promised Matthew Hayden he would do a nude lap of the oval if he scored 200. Modesty in a Muslim country prevented such an act, but chances are he will do one around Adelaide Oval when he gets home.

It says something of the type of bloke he is that he didn’t shirk his responsibilities as a front-line bowler after spending nearly three days at the crease. As soon as the Bangladeshi second innings started, he had the ball in his hand and was out there trying to capture wickets.

It is testament to the calibre of the man that he didn’t thumb his nose at Hohns and say “I told you so” (how tempting that would have been for lesser human beings).

Stories about athletes performing amazing feats well out of their comfort zones are few and far between. When they come along, they should be cherished for all time.

When Grant Hackett won the 1500m gold medal at the Athens Olympics, he did it with a collapsed lung. Like Gillespie, he drew on every raw instinct in his bones to survive - and win.

Cricket experts will debate the importance of Gillespie’s innings for years to come. Yes, it was against a weaker opposition. But other Australian batsmen capitulated against the same bowling before Gillespie came to the crease.

We normally don’t like sportsmen who talk about themselves in the third person. But Dizzy, you are excused for your quote straight after stumps on day four. “It’s a fairytale really,” he said. “Hansel and Gretel, and Dizzy’s double hundred, it’s one and the same. Absolute fairytale.”

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OLYMPIC and world champion Grant Hackett will return to competition next month following shoulder surgery.

Hackett says his comeback is well ahead of schedule and he will compete in the 400m freestyle at a Telstra Grand Prix meeting in Brisbane in three weeks’ time.

“I am just so happy being back and the smile has returned knowing that I’m on the right track,” Hackett said.

“It has been a frustrating few months having to watch from the grandstand during the Commonwealth Games.

“But I’m slowly but surely getting back and it feels great.”

Hackett says he will not set a cracking pace in Brisbane, but will crank it up at the Australian shortcourse championships in August.

“I’m not putting too much pressure on myself ahead of Brisbane,” he said.

Hackett’s return is timely as Australia’s men regroup after copping heavy criticism during the Commonwealth Games.

With Ian Thorpe also back in training and set to compete regularly overseas, the pair’s return is considered vital looking ahead to next year’s world championships in Melbourne.

Meanwhile, Australian head coach Alan Thompson has been given a tour of the Olympic pool to be used in Beijing.

Thompson was allowed to inspect the state-of-the-art aquatics venue in the Olympic city that will be known as the Water Cube.

“The pool itself won’t be finished until October, but basically the walls are made out of a soft plastic and it’s something to behold,” he said.

Thompson was allowed inside the venue, but only after he agreed to attend a lecture and give Chinese officials some insight into Australia’s preparations and training methods.

Thompson said China’s swimmers would be a force in the pool, with their male swimmers on the rise.

“In a country of 1.3 billion people, they have an obvious advantage,” Thompson said.

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SWIMMER Grant Hackett, former South Australian premier Dean Brown, economist Cliff Walsh and young Australian of the year Trisha Broadbridge are among a high profile team to advise the Federal Government on youth mental health.

The National Youth Mental Health Foundation Advisory Board will work on improving access to mental health services for 12 to 25 year olds.

Parliamentary secretary for Health Christopher Pyne said the board members “bring expertise in the fields of mental health, media, communications, business, sport, politics, education, indigenous health, youth employment and churches”.

Doctors, however, have criticised the Government’s priorities, claiming the board lacked clinical expertise and that medical experts should have been appointed before Olympians. The board is part of $69 million in youth mental health initiatives announced in last year’s Budget.