Ian Thorpe offered full facilities by the Australian Institute of Sport to forego Abu Dhabi training
The Australian Institute of Sport has joined the league of professionals that are suggesting to Ian Thorpe to call off his decision of training in Abu Dhabi and come to the Australia instead.
AIS has opened its doors today, for the 2004 Olympic 200m and 400m freestyle king, to help him make his way to his third Olympics at London in 2012.
Peter Fricker, Director AIS, while talking to the media said, “We've already offered support to Swimming Australia that if Ian Thorpe wants to come down here and spend any time down here at all for some testing, profiling, looking at technique, perhaps room
for improvement in some of the technical aspects of his swimming, we'd be happy to provide that service for nothing.”
Fricker also added that Thorpe is more than welcome to come back to his own country for the London 2012 preparations and that they will take care of his accommodation, food and tests. They will also consult the experts to fit the loopholes that Thorpe wants
to work on.
Fricker expressed that Thorpe can ask the coach for any type of help and he will get all the facilities for free anytime, when he decides to come back.
They stressed that Thorpe retired four years ago, and he needs the best of coaching science to compete with the likes of Michael Phelps, who has been a 14 times Olympic gold medallist and has not stepped away from the swimming since Thorpe walked away from
competitive swimming.
Thorpe aims to settle in Abu Dhabi, but Fricker argued that there had been discussions about the former Olympic champion coming to Canberra, Australia.
Fricker articulated that Thorpe has not finalised his decision of staying in Abu Dhabi. He also went on to add that they have not imposed any restrictions on any type of facility or any time limit, he can comeback when he thinks he is ready.
Thorpe’s decision of training in Abu Dhabi, matched to his airline sponsor Virgin Blue. He may decline AIS’s offer due to the reasons that at home, his every move, every success and every delay will be noticed, and his performance would be known even if
he stands at the blocks of London 2012.
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