Sullivan works on his turn ahead of Beijing Olympics

Thu, May 8 06:42 AM

By Julian Linden

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's top sprinter Eamon Sullivan is heading to Europe for a series of swimming meets as part of his preparations for the Beijing Games.

Sullivan, who holds the world record for 50 metres freestyle and is the second fastest of all time in the 100, will compete in Rome, Barcelona and Canet, France, in June before returning to Australia.

Sullivan, 22, is planning to use the European trip to fine-tune a new technique he has been working on to improve his turns, identified as his only weak spot.

Although his best time is just 0.02 off Frenchman Alain Bernard's world record, scientists at the Australian Institute of Sport have calculated the Australia is losing up to 0.3 seconds on the turns.

He has spent the past few weeks in Canberra working with the biomechanics department, collecting the data they need to perfect his turn to increase his chances of winning gold.

"Now that we are getting down to the fractions of a second, it's the one thing holding me back," Sullivan told The Australian.

"Over the last year I've become more aware of it. It's the one thing in my race that I'm not happy with."

He will compete in a grand prix meet in Sydney in July before joining his Australian team mates for a pre-Olympic training camp in Kuala Lumpur.

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Long-distance swimmer Grant Hackett arrived home on Wednesday to defend himself against claims he was overweight in the lead-up to this year's Beijing Olympics.

Speculation about Hackett's physical shape has dominated the local media since an unflattering photograph of him was taken at the weekend shortly after he was disqualified from the 10-km open water qualifying event in Spain.

Hackett, who won gold in the 1500 metres freestyle at the past two Olympics and is chasing an unprecedented third title in Beijing, laughed off the suggestions and proudly showed off his flat stomach to the media.

"I just tried to do that so I could have a go for The Biggest Loser," he said.

"I've just got to laugh it off, I can't look at it any other way because I'm not overweight in any sense of the word."

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While Hackett's belly has been the big talking point in Australia this week, his failure to qualify for the 10km event in Beijing may ultimately prove a blessing in disguise.

Hackett had been hoping to compete in the event, being held at the Olympics for the first time, after completing his two races in the pool, the 400 and 1500.

He holds the world record for the 1500 and often swims more than 10km in his daily workouts.

Hackett, who once held the world record for 200, has always insisted the pool events were his priorities and was not prepared to jeopardise his chances by changing his training.

But missing out on the 10km and the ribbing he has received over his weight has provided an extra source of motivation.

"He is pretty fired up," Hackett's coach Ian Pope said.

"Grant always has been such a focused athlete and that will just keep his focus in the zone a little bit more now."

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