London, Oct 22: Former Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe says he is mentally prepared to “fail” at next year's London Games, given the short timeframe after his decision to come out of retirement.
The Australian retired five years ago, having won five Olympic gold medals, 11 world titles and 13 individual world records.
The 29-year-old Thorpe is training in Switzerlandfor his comeback. He returns to competition next month at a World Cup event in Singapore.
He tells the BBC in Switzerland: “I'm more comfortable knowing that - chances are - I'm going to fail at this. I've become comfortable with that.”
He says “I don't think anyone's done this before with the timeframe that I have. Realistically, it's probably too short.”
