Ian Thorpe's swimming career could be over.
The five-time Olympic champion has scheduled a midday news conference today at a downtown Sydney hotel. A few days ago, it was thought the announcement might be Thorpe's withdrawal from the world championships next March.
But with the championship trials next month in Brisbane looming and no sign of Thorpe, who has been plagued by illness, injury and a lack of motivation in recent years, officials and teammates fear he is going to quit.
"It will be a huge announcement," an Australian swimming official, speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt the news, told The Associated Press yesterday.
He declined to give any more details, but said the announcement would have nothing to do with talk in recent days by Thorpe's coaches about lingering effects of a bout of glandular fever early this year.
"That's all a smoke-screen," the official said.
Thorpe exploded onto the swimming scene as a teenager and swam 13 world records between 1999 and 2002, becoming an international star after dominating the pool at the Sydney Olympics.
Thorpe and American Michael Phelps are acknowledged as the world stars of swimming.
The 24-year-old Australian won the 200m and 400m freestyle events at the Athens Olympics but has not competed in a major meet since.
He planned a major yearlong break after Athens, claiming "mental fatigue" and hoping to stay fresh for major competitions down the road.
He later decided not to compete at last year's world championships in Montreal, then dropped out of the Commonwealth Games in March due to the glandular fever bout.
That illness and other minor injuries have affected his training in the leadup to the Australian swim trials in Brisbane next month.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS