2009 Best Performances
50 METRES BUTTERFLY
| # | Country | Time | Name | IPS | Meet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | ESP | 22.43 | Munoz, Rafael | 1042 | ESPLCAPR |
| 2 |  | FRA | 22.84 | Bousquet, Frederick | 1017 | FRALCAPR |
| 3 | | FRA | 22.94 | Leveaux, Amaury | 1011 | FRALCAPR |
| 4 |  | RSA | 23.15 | Schoeman, Roland | 998 | RSALCAPR |
| 5 |  | AUS | 23.17 | Targett, Matthew | 996 | QCCUPJUN |
At a time when the generation of Thorpe, Klim, Hackett et al are moving on in life, news reaches us from the pen of Nicole Jeffery at The Australian that Geoff Huegill, Olympic medallist in the 100m 'fly and former 50m world champion, has shed 30kg of bulk and is putting his back into a full return to top-flight racing (no telling just yet how much of the 30kg was put on in retirement).
At 29, Huegill is still well within the age-range of potential success at the highest of levels these days. Jeffery reports that "Skippy" is likely to join coach Grant Stoelwinder's squad, including sprinters Eamon Sullivan and Libby Trickett, at the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre in Sydney when the programme there gets underway before the end of the year.
Huegill re-registered with Swimming Australia in January and has put in some sessions with his former coach Steve Alderman, now guiding world 50m short-course 'fly record holder Matt Jaukovic to better things at Sydney University. Huegill would not confirm the news when contacted by The Australian. Pity. There may be good reason of a contractual nature why all flocking to the Sydney programme must stay quiet until all news is broken officially - but in general, "quiet" comebacks should be discouraged, if only to protect athletes from the experience of Dara Torres, who had two such quiet (in the early phase) comebacks and was able to prepare her way back to world-class status without being called on by international anti-doping testers (they did call further down the line of her progress back to the Olympic podium, we are happy to note), even though she had, of course, re-registered as a competitor and done all that she needed to do in terms of alerting authorities of her comeback.
Not her fault, of course, if agents working for FINA do not call when you have re-registered as a competitor, but it was Torres who then faced questions about doping and speculation about the timing of when she returned to the radar of an international testing regime that is not always quite up to date with its knowledge on who is doing what, where and when. The world ranking lists and latest results do not feature the comeback kids, of whatever age, at a time when the quiet work is being put in to get an athlete back to full fighting fitness. Time and the official stats will tell if Huegill has been paid a visit by agents of IDTM in his build-up phase. Suffice it to say that if his comeback turns out to be real, he is better protected - in common with all athletes, coaches and programmes - if he has been a fully fledged member of the international (as opposed to the sound domestic regime in Australia) anti-doping regime and his presence in the race for success in international waters is known far and wide.
