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Thorpe Confident Of Challenging Phelps

May 6, 2011  - Craig Lord

News Round-Up:

Comeback news: Ian Thorpe's progress on the comeback trail has been good enough for the Australian to talk in terms of "beating Michael Phelps" should the American defend his Olympic crown at London 2012, according to British sprinter Mark Foster (GBR).

Appearing on a daytime TV show in Britain today, Foster said that Thorpe had played his cards close to his chest when it came to his comeback and had kept the news from friends last year even when he had begun to train in secret. But in a chat with Foster in the last couple of weeks, Thorpe revealed, the sprinter told viewers, that his progress on the comeback trail six months before he is allowed to return to the race pool under anti-doping rules governing availability for testing, has led the 2004 Olympic 200m champion to believe that victory on the biggest of occasions is a distinct possibility once more.

That view is supported by comments made to the Australian media of late by Thorpe's agent Dave Flaskas. In reassuring the media that Thorpe, cutting a fit and trim dash at the Royal Wedding in London last week, has not had any plastic surgery or undertaken other age–enhancing work, Flaskas said: "No, he doesn't have time for anything like that … he is really serious about [his comeback] and is working hard to get back in top shape." 

Thorpe may make his competitive comeback on November 4 at the Singapore round of the FINA World Cup. He is based with coach Gennadi Touretski at the Swiss national training centre. He will be in Britain soon, when he joins double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington (GBR) to help with a drive to get more British children swimming. 

A survey this week found that one in six children in Britain cannot swim, that British children were more than twice as likely to spend their free time watching television (79 per cent) than playing sport (34 per cent) while even among those who can swim only a third could swim a length.

Foster is among those joining the campaign with Adlington and Thorpe. Asked today whether he would try to make the London 2012 Olympic team, Foster, who has never retired and is still subject to random anti-doping tests, did not rule out the possibility but said that his head says 'yes' but the body says 'no'", especially at a time when his plans for the next stage of his life had been going so well.

Italy: the maternal ‪grandfather of Federica Pellegrini‬, ‪Gaston‬e‪ Lionel‬lo, had died aged 86. He was an Italian boxing champion in 1947. The news reached the Olympic swim champion during a training camp in Tenerife yesterday.

Scotland: the country's 2010 Commonwealth medallists will receive rewards of £10,000 for gold £5,000 for silver and £2,500 for bronze as Scotland prepares to host the Games in 2014. The beneficiaries: Hannah Miley and Robbie Renwick - gold;  David Carry, Andrew Hunter, Jak Scott, Cameron Brodie, Lewis Smith, Sean Fraser and Michael Jamieson - silver.