Thorpe fails in Olympic bid for 200 freestyle
Source: Agencies |
March 17, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
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IAN Thorpe's failure to make the 200 meters freestyle final at the Australian Olympic trials yesterday was one of the greatest disappointments of his career and had left him "utterly gutted".
The five-time Olympic champion's hopes of making a third Games are on a knife edge after he finished 12th in the semifinals, a result that left the capacity crowd at Adelaide's South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre in stunned silence.
Thorpe will compete in the 100 meters freestyle preliminaries today, his last-chance saloon for the London Games, but faces a mammoth task to even reach the final of a discipline far removed from his longer-distance speciality.
The 11-time world champion, revered at home as Australia's finest Olympian, said his comeback "fairytale had turned into a nightmare" after his semifinal.
"After the race, obviously I was disappointed. The more time I've had to digest, the more disappointed I am," he told reporters, red-eyed and crestfallen.
"The only other time (I've felt such disappointment) was at our trials for Athens Olympics. I guess I've never felt like this after a race. Just utterly gutted and kind of left speechless by a performance. And asking all of the questions, you know: 'Why did this happen? Why is this going on?'
"It's a new thing. I don't know how I'll handle it. But I think I have to handle it well so I can get myself back up."
Thorpe infamously false-started at the 2004 Olympic trials to be disqualified for the 400 freestyle, but ended up competing in the event at Athens and taking gold after the second-placed qualifier Craig Stevens relinquished his spot on the team.
There was no hope of any reprieve yesterday, however, after he flagged dramatically in the final lap to finish with a time of one minute, 49.91 seconds, more than two seconds behind pace-setter Ryan Napoleon. Thorpe had earlier teased the morning crowd by qualifying fifth fastest for the semifinals that had thrilled Leigh Nugent, with the Australian head coach all but declaring his swimmer was back in business.
The five-time Olympic champion's hopes of making a third Games are on a knife edge after he finished 12th in the semifinals, a result that left the capacity crowd at Adelaide's South Australia Aquatic and Leisure Centre in stunned silence.
Thorpe will compete in the 100 meters freestyle preliminaries today, his last-chance saloon for the London Games, but faces a mammoth task to even reach the final of a discipline far removed from his longer-distance speciality.
The 11-time world champion, revered at home as Australia's finest Olympian, said his comeback "fairytale had turned into a nightmare" after his semifinal.
"After the race, obviously I was disappointed. The more time I've had to digest, the more disappointed I am," he told reporters, red-eyed and crestfallen.
"The only other time (I've felt such disappointment) was at our trials for Athens Olympics. I guess I've never felt like this after a race. Just utterly gutted and kind of left speechless by a performance. And asking all of the questions, you know: 'Why did this happen? Why is this going on?'
"It's a new thing. I don't know how I'll handle it. But I think I have to handle it well so I can get myself back up."
Thorpe infamously false-started at the 2004 Olympic trials to be disqualified for the 400 freestyle, but ended up competing in the event at Athens and taking gold after the second-placed qualifier Craig Stevens relinquished his spot on the team.
There was no hope of any reprieve yesterday, however, after he flagged dramatically in the final lap to finish with a time of one minute, 49.91 seconds, more than two seconds behind pace-setter Ryan Napoleon. Thorpe had earlier teased the morning crowd by qualifying fifth fastest for the semifinals that had thrilled Leigh Nugent, with the Australian head coach all but declaring his swimmer was back in business.
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