Olympic gold medalist does not nominate for national titles leaving his career in doubt.
Five-time Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe will not compete at Australia’s world championship selection trials this month, Swimming Australia said on Friday.
Thorpe has opted not to nominate for any events in the eight-day competition, which doubles as the Australian championships, starting in Adelaide next Friday (April 26), Swimming Australia (SA) said.
Thorpe came out of retirement in 2011 in a bid to make the Australian swim team for the London Olympics but failed to qualify. Despite that, he said that he would swim on and target this year’s world championship in Barcelona.
The 30-year-old said in January that he believed he could return to his best form over the next two years and had reportedly switched his focus to the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
However, doubts were raised over his future when SA cut $100,000 in funding to Thorpe in March.
Known as the “Thorpedo”, the Olympic great retired in 2006 after a glittering career in which he ruled the pool from 1998 to 2004, taking nine Olympic medals and 11 world titles and setting 13 long course world records.
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