Olympic-size pool comebacks

The 2012 London Olympics are fast approaching, with the host city finalising preparations before it welcomes the prestigious international sporting event in July next year. As of December 2010, the seats in the Olympic stadium were being fitted, the flood lights were being tested, and all the other venues were nearing completion, including the venue that will house the sport of....Matrix fighting?  Wait a minute, I think that's the London Olympic Taekwondo mascots!  Cute, one-eyed liquid mercury men, or something.  Bless.    

A couple of London 2012 mascots

So the London preparations seem to be going swimmingly.  They remind me of the preparations for the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games, except that London's are well organised, safe and hygienic. (New Delhi Olympic Committee: Oh, that’s how you prepare stuff for an international sporting event?  We are totally gonna write that down for next time). No, New Delhi. You will not be hosting anything else ever, unless you clean up your garbage dump state of affairs.

Our future Olympians are currently training their little tushes off in a bid to qualify; determined to fulfill a life-long dream of representing their country in a sport that they love, are exceedingly good at, and for many, have been competing in since they were about two weeks old. Although, some late bloomers have been known to start at six months; which I don't see the point of, as they are clearly past their prime.  Okay, I mock, but I LOVE the Olympics.

Australians love an Olympic success story, more so when it involves one of our own. We remember with great fondness when Australian swimming sensation, Ian Thorpe, struck gold, time and again, and we remember his glorious journey to success. We remember because we travelled it with him, every step of the way. So there is no surprise, or doubt, that we want our best athletes to keep going. Because for those moments of glory, we are proud; proud of them, and proud of ourselves.

When Thorpe announced the end of his professional swimming career in 2006 at the age of 24, few could begrudge him his new direction in life. Australia’s most successful Olympian acknowledged he was "tired of swimming lap after lap staring at a black line”. I hear you Thorpie.  That's exactly the reason I gave up my professional swimming career.  So anyway, a few weeks ago, the 28-year-old Thorpedo announced to the world that he was making a comeback, just in time for the London games! 

And this week, another Australian Olympian, Michael Klim, 33, announced he was making a comeback, after retiring in 2007. And Olympians Geoff Huegill, 31, and Libby Trickett, 26, have woken up and smelt the chlorine, also coming out of retirement to put in a bid to contest the London games.

In 2007, another Olympian, U.S. swimmer, Dara Torres, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, was vying for a place on her national team for the Beijing games. In preparation, Torres broke her own American record for the 50m freestyle at the USA National Swimming Championships, seven years after retiring from competitive swimming. A remarkable achievement made more astonishing given Torres was 40, and first won gold 23 years before at the Los Angeles Olympics.

The news that the mother-of-one was challenging the new stable of Olympic hopefuls, some half her age, had sports physiologists and scientists scratching their heads at the unlikelihood of her making a successful comeback. A senior sports physiologist at the Australian Institute of Sport, David Pyne, says extending the careers of elite athletes is “good for the individuals and good for the sport”.

The concept of athletes taking a break before returning to the sport in a bid to extend their career has been gaining currency, as attested by Thorpe, Huegill, Klim and Trickett. While these swimmers are a good deal younger than Torres, they are exceptions to the rule, and pressure to remain in the sport should not be placed on our finest athletes.  Yes, you can’t beat the classics, but there are many other talented athletes coming up through the ranks.

We should acknowledge that even gifted athletes have a desire to experience life after their sporting achievements, and we should let them go when they are ready, so we can follow the new breed as they pursue their dreams. While some, like Thorpe, have unfinished business, our future Olympians are not buoyed by their own past triumphs or losses, although they may soon realise their one moment to shine may promise little more than exquisite glory or excruciating defeat.  And emboldened by our past successes, they will strive to make us just as proud.