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Hackett: Pressure on rivals
10/12/2007 14:29 - (SA)
Sydney - Australian Olympic swimming champion Grant Hackett believes the pressure will be on his younger rivals rather than on him at next year's Beijing Games.
Hackett was toppled in the 400m and 1500m freestyle events at this year's world championships in Melbourne, but believes he has re-established himself heading into Olympic year.
Hackett won the 10km Australian Olympic swimming qualifier last weekend and now needs a top 10 result at next May's world championships in Seville to gain a berth at the Beijing Olympics.
Poland's Mateusz Sawrymowicz ended Hackett's four-title world domination of the 1500m event last March with the Sydney and Athens Olympic champion trailing in seventh place.
South Korean Park Tae-hwan upset the defending champion in the 400m freestyle to complete Hackett's misery at the world titles.
But Hackett, 27, said he believed Park and Sawrymowicz would feel the pressure in Beijing.
Pressure
"I have won at an Olympics before. I don't feel like I have to prove myself," Hackett said on Monday.
"I mean these guys are going into their first ones, so the pressure really is on them and pressure is really on guys like Park and Mateusz (Sawrymowicz).
"I know what it feels like wanting to win an Olympic gold medal and you do put a lot of pressure on yourself and I don't think that is really healthy.
"I feel a lot more comfortable at this stage of my career with the experience I've got and the way I'm enjoying the sport," he said.
Hackett is bidding for three Olympic gold medals in the 1500m event at Beijing.
Relish
"People say the third gold medal there's a lot of pressure, but it's not to be honest. It's fun, I'm enjoying it."
Hackett said he will relish being the underdog behind Park in the 400m.
"His advantage is that he is young and he's improving all the time, my advantage is that I am old and I've got that all that experience behind me," he said.
"I've been to a couple of Olympic Games before and I know what it's like to have success at that level.
"I know what works and what doesn't work for me at that level and it is a very different arena."
- AFP
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