Legendary Olympian, Ian Thorpe: An overview of his comeback performances – Part 4
After his commendable efforts in Beijing, Ian Thorpe now headed to perform in the 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly at the last stop of 2011 Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) Swimming World Cup Series in Tokyo from November 12-13.
On the initial day of competition, Thorpe appeared before the starting blocks to race the short course freestyle discipline and this time, he was listed in the second heat of the event.
The 29-year-old Thorpe showed quick response to the start and was the first swimmer to leap into the water. With his commendable efforts, the Australian completed his initial 50 metres of the race in a remarkable time of 24.08 seconds. The five-time Olympic champion continued his nerve-wrecking performance in the second half of the race, where he hit the finishing blockade with an effort of 25.37 seconds to post 49.45 seconds on the wall.
He came first in his heat, but stood twelfth in the overall rankings list. Thorpe remained 1.36 seconds slower than the fastest qualifying swimmer, Kenta Ito of Japan, who raced in heat 5 and clocked a time of 48.09 seconds.
The second fastest spot was secured by Thorpe’s team-member Kyle Morgan Richardson, who remained just 0.21 seconds behind Ito and ended his race in a time of 48.30 seconds. Similarly, Alain Bernard of France also demonstrated his invincible efforts and earned third fastest qualification spot of the race by submitting a time of 48.80 seconds.
With his dazzling effort in the 100m discipline, the comeback king succeeding in impressing the arena, as he was just 0.26 seconds behind Yuuki Kawachi of Japan, who occupied last qualification spot of the race by finishing eighth with an effort of 49.19 seconds.
The arena was stunned with Thorpe’s magnificent improvement, as he bettered his Beijing effort by 0.76 seconds, where he posted 50.21 seconds and ended fifteenth.
Subsequently, Thorpe returned to the pool deck on November 9 for the 100m butterfly. He remained comparatively slower than his last performance and finished twenty-sixth by clocking a time of 53.59 seconds. His timing was 0.24 seconds sluggish than his effort in Beijing, where he posted 54.35 seconds.
Thorpe once again failed to qualify for the playoff but with his significant improvement in the freestyle discipline, he implicitly sent an alarming message to his competitors, as he was getting better at every race.
After the FINA series, the Australian veteran once again went dark for media, so he could concentrate entirely on his training programme.
After a month of exhausting training schedule with his mentor, Gennadi Touretski, Thorpe participated in the Long Course Italian Winter Championships in December 2011. He participated in the 100m freestyle and ended sixteenth by clocking a time of 50.84 seconds.
This was his first long course meet in the last six years while Thorpe stayed 2.06 seconds slower than Italy’s Luca Dotto, who hit the wall for gold medal with a timing of 48.78 seconds.
Thorpe’s scintillating effort in the long course freestyle discipline was highly acknowledged by his fans. After that, Thorpe publicised to participate in the 100m freestyle and 200m freestyle at the 2012 Victorian Swimming Championships. The news of his participation in the 200m event aroused the expectations of his supporters, as they were eager to see him swim in his main event again.
To be continued in Part 5.
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