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At 36 years of age, can Grant Hackett in his comeback?

Grant Hackett isn't the only swimmer to struggle after finishing his career. (Source: Wiki Commons)
4th April, 2016
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After that photo taken in Melbourne’s Crown Casino, years of a grubby divorce playing out in the tabloid press, and attending rehab for a drug addiction, it can sometimes be forgotten that Grant Hackett used to be one of the greatest swimmers on the planet.

Now the three-time gold medallist is lining up for one more crack at the Olympics, almost eight years after his 2008 retirement.

But rather than targeting the 1500 metres – an event at which he was unbeaten between 1996 and 2007 – Hackett is aiming to be on the plane to Rio as part of the men’s 4×200 metres freestyle team.

It’s an event he’s had plenty of Olympic success in as well, with a gold at Sydney, silver at Athens and a bronze at Beijing.

Hackett’s is a seriously impressive resume, but are our men’s freestyle stocks so low that we need a 36-year-old to come out of retirement?

Well, maybe.

You may have noticed a pattern of diminishing returns for the relay team during Hackett’s tenure – first in 2000, second in 2004, third in 2008 – which continued after his retirement, with the Aussies coming fourth in 2012, more than seven seconds behind the victorious Americans.

It emerged in the wake of the London Games that the swimming team were seriously fractured, and that perhaps had a bearing on how the relay team fared, but it’s also possible that the failure to make the podium was simply due to inexperience.

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The four men who raced in the Olympic final were Thomas Fraser-Holmes (then aged 20), Kenrick Monk (24), Ned McKendry (20) and Ryan Napoleon (22) for an average age of 21.5.

Also representing the side in the heats were David McKeon (then aged 20) and Cameron McEvoy (18).

But now, with four more years under their Speedos, these blokes should be in their prime come Rio.

Perhaps a better indication of where our lads are at is the 2015 World Championships, where they managed a bronze medal in the final, just 1.01 seconds behind the gold-medal winning Brits.

The four Aussies swimming that day were McEvoy, McKeon, Fraser-Holmes and Daniel Smith.

(Aged 24, Smith missed London as he spent a large portion of his teenage years struggling with alcohol and drug addiction, and even living on the street.)

The Aussies actually qualified for the finals in first place, with the team who topped the times in the heats consisting of Smith, Fraser-Holmes, Kurt Herzog (who beat James Magnussen over 200 metres earlier in the year), and Hackett.

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Hackett’s comeback has already been more successful than Ian Thorpe’s doomed effort to make the London Games, with a bronze medal to his name.

Can he make it an Olympic medal as well? First he needs to qualify. And while the competition is fierce, Hackett is definitely in contention.

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