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.”