Sydney – Australian swimming great Grant Hackett added to his legacy on Sunday by shaking off seven year’s worth of rust to book a place on the Australian relay team at the world championships later this year.
The 34-year-old double Olympic champion, in his second meet since the 2008 Beijing Games, needed a top-six finish in the men’s 200 metre freestyle final at the high-quality national championships in Sydney to book a spot on the team for Kazan.
He achieved the feat with room to spare, finishing fourth in a time of 1 min, 46.84 seconds despite only six months training since announcing his plan to return.
Hackett won 1 500m freestyle gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and defended the title four years later at Athens, picked up 10 world titles and also a silver medal in the 1 ,500m in Beijing, but he said Sunday’s achievements merited mention with his past accolades.
“If you had asked me 10 years ago if the only thing that got me on the team was on the relay it would be bitter disappointment,” Hackett told reporters.
“But right now, it is one of the biggest achievements of my life.”
Rated one of the sport’s greatest distance swimmers, Hackett said he returned to the pool for his own wellbeing having gone into rehab early last year to treat a dependency to insomnia medication Zolpidem.
A strong showing at the world championships in Russia in July and August, could, however, lead to a spot in the team for the Rio Olympics next year.
But Hackett, who also finished third in the 400m freestyle on Friday, was just happy to be enjoying swimming again.
“I will be honest. I hated the sport for a long time,” he said.
“I got scared getting into a bathtub.
“To discover a love for something that has been such a big part of my life is really pleasing now because I don’t walk away with that taste of Olympic silver in my mouth by a few hundredths of a second.
“I can really enjoy the sport for what it is now.” – Reuters)