Leisel Jones, AAP tells us, has ordered her mum Rosemary to stay away from the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in October because of security concerns.
"I would not allow her to be there and it would play on my mind if she was there, knowing that she does not have the security that we do and would not be looked after as much as we would," she tells the news agency. "It is always a little bit scary so I said `Mum, you can come along to the Pan Pacs in Irvine, California (in August)'. You can go to Disneyland or whatever you want, but I don't want you coming to India. She can have her holiday earlier in the year."
Well, that's told mum - not to mention the message it sends to Games organisers who have not done a good job on reassuring potential visitors to Delhi.
As far as Jones's long-term plans are concerned, the Olympic 100m breaststroke champion intends to race at London 2012, describing her decision to target a fourth Games thus: "I am both feet in the door and moving by the head. ... I can prove my longevity in the sport. I can be the first (Australian) swimmer to do four Olympics and that would be a great achievement. I am still mentally prepared for everything and focused and still enjoying my swimming."
She notes another driving force: shiny suits. Jones believes that she is still "the best in the business after skipping last year's world championships in Rome, a meet ... marred by the swimsuit wars", says AAP.
"I consider myself to be the fastest and I would love the opportunity to race against the guys coming up this year whether it be (Americans) Rebecca Soni or Jessica Hardy or anyone," says Jones.
She added: "I would love to go fast in these suits almost just to prove to myself it is still possible. I think a lot of it is going to be mentally what you can do so I am hoping that I can mentally get myself past that and do really good times because all my (best) times were done in (Speedo) FS1s (in 2006).
"People have been dreading this year, going backwards and all that sort of stuff ... whereas I am not going backwards."
