SHANGHAI // Nine months after announcing that he was coming out of retirement, five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe will return to competition at the Fina World Cup in Singapore today.
The Australian, who missed the Dubai leg of the World Cup last month, made his announcement at the start of February, and he returns to action almost exactly five years after walking away from the sport and seven years since his last international competition, at the Athens Olympics.
Thorpe, 29, has been training in Switzerland under Gennadi Touretski, who guided Alex Popov to four Olympic and six world titles. He could be headed to Abu Dhabi later.
Given he is racing in the 100 metres individual medley and 100m butterfly in Singapore, rather than his specialist freestyle, and in a short-course (25-metre) pool, the next couple of days will give the swimmer a return to a racing environment rather than any indication as to where he ranks on the world stage.
Speaking in Shanghai, Thorpe said: "I would be lying if I said I think I will be able to do this or that - I really don't know. I think there's an area I will fall into where it is not going to be extraordinary and it's not going to be horrible.
"I have to kind of remind myself I am the guy that hasn't raced for five years. I forget it from time to time.
"It becomes an important step for what I am going to do next year so, with that in mind, this is the starting point and it will be good to finally have an opportunity to race."
"There are days where I feel like I'm the best swimmer in the world and it's really strange because, the next day, I'll be hopeless."
In his first incarnation, Thorpe enjoyed an intense rivalry with Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband. And for Van Den Hoogenband's former coach, Jacco Verhaeren, Thorpe's legacy cannot be tarnished. Verhaeren said: "Whatever he does, because his dream can end when they have the [Australian Olympic] trials, to me it stays the same.
"He is still a hero of his time, an icon of swimming, and someone who we must be very grateful that he had these performances. This won't change.
"It won't change the way I look at great performers."
