Ian Thorpe has been training
in private in Los Angeles for the past two months after splitting with his
American coach.
Dave Salo, head coach at the University of Southern California, said the
Olympic champion has not trained with him since the end of July.
Thorpe's comeback plan for next year's world championships in Melbourne
originally involved training under the tutelage of the respected Salo at USC's
state of the art facilities near downtown Los Angeles.
Salo said he believed Thorpe had hired a team of new coaches for "private
one-on-one" swim training and for fitness work out of the water.
"He was with me through to the end of July, but he made other arrangements,"
Salo said today.
"I think he's doing something in LA with a couple of other coaches.
"Salo added there was nothing acrimonious about the split.
"Our schedules were a little bit off kilter," Salo explained.
"The timing wasn't very good.
"When he got out here we (the USC swim team) were getting ready for the
preparations for our own trials which were at the beginning of August."
Salo said he did not know the identity of Thorpe's new LA coach, although he
believed it could be an Australian.
"I know he (Thorpe) had a contract with somebody to help him with his dry
land program and somebody who was going to work with him on some other physical
things," he said.
"I think he had a swim coach that was from Australia who was working with
him."
Thorpe, who has been dogged this year by glandular fever and a broken hand,
selected LA as his three-month training base for the comeback to international
competition.
He is expected to return to Australia in a couple of weeks.
Thorpe was hoping the vast city would give him respite from the public
attention he receives in Australia, but LA locals considered it an odd manoeuvre
since LA is the paparazzi capital of the world.
The swimmer, who bought a $US879,000 home in the Hollywood Hills, was
followed by paparazzi in LA and had to rebuke a media report he was overweight.
Salo said Thorpe, who has not swum internationally since the 2004 Olympics,
still had plenty of time to prepare for the world championships in Melbourne
next March.
The selection trials for the Australian team are scheduled for December in
Brisbane and it is believed Thorpe will drop his pet 400m freestyle event and
compete in the 100m and 200m freestyle.
Asked if he believed the world would see Thorpe dominate the pool again, Salo
said it "depends on how much he wants to do well".
"He's capable of getting himself prepared and ready to go," Salo said.
"Right now, just making the Australian team is probably the most important
thing for him to do.
"Then he has another five months to prepare for the world championships.
"I don't know how hard it will be for him to make the Australian team.
"I don't know what the depth looks like for Australia, but I think he can
always rise to the occasion."
