Matthew Mitcham doubtful of participating at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships - Swimming News
The 2008 Beijing Olympic diving gold medallist, Matthew Mitcham, has expressed doubts on his participation at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, this July.
Mitcham, who won the gold medal in the individual 10m platform diving, is anxious about his timely recovery from an injury, which is disrupting his training. The Australian might not be able him to defend his title at the upcoming world event.
He is the best hope of the Australian diving team for the 2011 World Championships, but the Queensland born athlete has been suffering from an abdominal muscle injury, which has put a halt to his training programme for more than a month.
The Olympic champion is determined to defend his title and is hoping to start training from the month of July, if everything goes according to plan.
Mitcham won the bronze medal of the 1 metre springboard diving event at the 2009 Rome World Championships. He also won four silver medals in the 1 metre springboard, synchronised 3 metre springboard, 10m platform and the synchronised 10 metre platform diving
categories at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
The 23-year-old diver said that his focus is on the 2012 London Olympics, as he desires to defend his title at biggest stage of sports.
He said, “Quite honestly, even if I competed I don't think I would win the world champs. While I did win the Montreal grand prix (event in May) after only three weeks of training, that's only a grand prix. This is world championships, the standard of world
diving is so high that I would be a bit of a fool to expect to still win.”
Mitcham added, “In terms of London, this is not going to affect me at all. I tend to work well under high pressure situations when time is really tight and I've proved it time and time again.”
The Australian diver realises that he will need to put more effort into his training program after his recovery, as the divers will reach to a next level after the 2011 World Championships. Mitcham is hopeful for a speedy recovery and is confident that he
will make his country proud at the London Olympics.
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