‘Oz Olympic champ Thorpe undergoing training, comeback possible’

SYDNEY - Australian multiple Olympic champion Ian Thorpe is reportedly training in the pool and could be a part of the 2012 London Olympics, his manager David Flaskas said.

Flaskas said the 28-year-old player, who retired from swimming in 2006, has been training recently, but added that his to return to competitive swimming would not happen overnight.

“In Beijing, at different times, there were times he missed the racing, and I have no doubt he thinks about London. Just been over there, and he worked for the BBC at the Commonwealth Games, but like I say, things would need to happen pretty quickly if that’s to become a reality,” the Brisbane Times quoted him, as saying.

“He’s loving swimming all over again, but he’s not asked me to apply to Australian swimming to get into the drug-testing regime. I still think he’s got competitive juices but he also understands what it takes to compete at the level he competes at,” he added.

He further revealed that in 2008, just before the Beijing Olympics, Thorpe had an accident working with weights in a gymnasium in the United States. He fractured his scapula and had it wired before flying to China to commentate.

Insisting that Thorpe had been inspired by Geoff Huegill’s comeback, Flaskas said: “Ian is a competitive guy, and if he was to make a return to competitive swimming, he would be doing it for his own reasons.” (ANI)