Ian Thorpe's swimming future in doubt
Ian Thorpe's chances of again swimming for Australia faded with the revelation on Sunday that sports administrators have cut funding to the five-time Olympic gold medallist.
Head coach Leigh Nugent told the Sunday Telegraph that he had not spoken to the 30-year-old Thorpe since October and was not sure where he was living.
In an autobiography published last year, the former chlorine king said he hoped to compete at the world championships in Barcelona in July and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.
Thorpe spent four years out of the pool before coming out of retirement in 2006 for a failed attempt at making the national team for the London Olympics. He is not attending the national trials in Adelaide next month for the team that will compete in the world championships.
He is believed to be living in London.
Thorpe said in the latest post on his Facebook page that retirement was not on his mind.
"Now that I've got time on my side, I can get good preparation that will enable me to swim really well," he said. "It would be nice to allow myself to come full circle in my swimming career. I still have a life in the pool."
