Dual Olympic gold medallist Michael Klim admits he risks flopping in his return to competitive swimming and has no expectations.
Part of Australia’s gold medal 100m and 200m freestyle relay teams in Sydney in 2000, the 33-year-old announced on Monday he was back and aiming for next year’s London Olympics.
Also an individual world champion in the 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly events in 1998, Klim’s career dipped after 2000, as a series of back and shoulder injuries took a toll, before his retirement in 2007.
“Towards the end of my career the injuries sort of took over and I was becoming really short with not only myself but everyone else and it wasn’t fun for me,” Klim said on Monday.
“Just recently, the more I’ve started swimming the love’s come back into the sport for me and it’s a passion.”
But he was unsure whether that passion would be matched by results.
“I don’t have any expectations whatsoever, I don’t know if my body can handle it, my wife can handle it, my children can handle it,” said Klim, whose third child is due in June.
“But I’m going to have a crack and see where I can get to.
“If I get to the (Australian Olympic) trials it will be fantastic, if I get to London it will be just amazing.”
His goal is a spot in the 100m freestyle relay team.
He follows fellow Australian swimming stars Ian Thorpe, Libby Trickett and Geoff Huegill onto the comeback trail.
Klim said the modern trend for swimmers to “train smarter” but less, probably inspired the wave of comebacks and was certainly a big factor for him, given his family commitments and injury history.
“What I was doing when I was younger was miles and miles of swimming,” he said.
“Now it’s very calculated and a lot of quality swimming, no wasted strokes and obviously my body at this age can’t afford any loose laps.”
Swimming Australia head coach Leigh Nugent declined to assess Klim’s prospects, citing the possibility his body might again break down as the biggest danger.
But he said his return was welcome, given his past feats for Australia, and if nothing else, would build useful competitive pressure.
Klim’s former coach Ian Pope said it would be tough for the swimmer to make the Olympic team, but a wonderful achievement if he did, 16 years after his first Games.
Pope said Klim’s troublesome shoulders should have been helped by his long lay-off and it would also benefit him that he had maintained a decent fitness level since his retirement.
“It’s a good base for him to come back from,” Pope said.
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