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Ian Thorpe back training, comeback possible

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك Ian Thorpe back training, comeback possible

BRISBANE, Australia — Ian Thorpe is back training in the pool and hasn't ruled out a return to competition in time for the London 2012 Olympics.

Dave Flaskas, manager for the 28-year-old five-time Olympic gold medalist, told The Associated Press on Sunday that while "it's a long way from here to London," Thorpe is enjoying swimming again and "never say never."

Flaskas said in order to be eligible for the London Games, Thorpe would have to begin drug-testing in the next six to eight weeks to make him eligible a year out from the Australian trials next February or March.

Thorpe retired in 2006 after setting 13 world records and winning 11 world championship golds.

He won the 200- and 400-meter freestyle in the 2004 Athens Olympics in his last major international meet.

Flaskas said "2011 is already wiped out" as far as competitive swimming was concerned because of the lack of drug testing.

"At the moment, he is just enjoying training, and we'll see where it goes," Flaskas said. "He's working out on his own, his shoulder problems (a broken shoulder blade) seem to be gone, but he's still a long way from competitive training."

Thorpe told Sydney's Sunday Telegraph, which sighted him training at Sydney's Caringbah Leisure Center pool on Saturday, that "I never really stopped swimming, I'm just doing more of it now, and I'm really enjoying getting into shape."

Flaskas said Thorpe was "delighted" with 30-year-old Geoff Huegill's gold-medal comeback at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games but that was not his inspiration for a return to training.

"Ian knows what it requires, and he's over the moon for Geoff, they are good mates," Flaskas said. "But Ian knows he still has to do the work."

Flaskas said Thorpe had no plans to do any training outside Sydney and was training alone. His former coach, Tracey Menzies, was now with the Australian Institute of Sport.

Flaskas said Thorpe's primary reason for training was to stay fit for all the world travel he does as a young ambassador for the World Economic Forum and his business commitments.

"He does a lot of travel to Japan, he just came back from the UAE, he gave a speech in Chicago," Flaskas said. "His life now goes beyond sport. Fitness is really important when you spend a lot of time at 35,000 feet."

Last May, Thorpe issued a statement saying he was not planning a return to swimming after a Brisbane newspaper said he was seeking to earn a place on an Australia 400 freestyle relay team for London.

Thorpe was the world's highest-profile swimmer until Michael Phelps came onto the scene, and had a list of lucrative endorsement deals. But Thorpe admitted last year that he'd had financial problems after his personal savings were affected by the global economic crisis.

He said he'd experienced cash-flow problems after shedding sponsorship deals to focus on his university studies in linguistics and psychology, but had restructured his finances.

Thorpe burst onto the international stage as a teenager in 1999 and won three gold medals — all in world record times — and two silver medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
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