Ian Thorpe’s bid to compete in the London Olympics is officially over after he failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the 100 metres freestyle.
The five-time Olympic gold medallist won his heat, but his time of 50.35 seconds was only the 21st best time of the morning, meaning he missed out on the semis.
Thorpe’s best chance to qualify for the Games was in the 200m freestyle, but he was eliminated in the semi-final stage on Friday night.
Despite missing out on the London team, Thorpe said he would continue to swim with next year’s World Championships in Barcelona and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on the radar.
He said: “I hadn’t thought about it very much ... but I think now I’ll probably take a few days off and enjoy the competition and then sit down with a few people, [Australian head coach] Leigh Nugent and my coach Gennadi [Touretski] and work out what is next, work out what the next preparation will be and what competition will be next.
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“I’m still swimming. When I started this I wanted to get back in the pool, I wanted to race and I wanted to go to the Olympics. I still want to do all of those things.
“I’ve missed out on a huge goal...but the desire is still there.”
Thorpe had no regrets about his comeback and would not rule out the possibility of competing at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“I’m disappointed that I really haven’t been able to race in a way that is reflective of the amount of work that I have done and how I have trained,” he said. “But I don’t regret giving this a go.
“Compared to how I have raced before and how I have competed, the success that I have had, this does look like doom compared to it. But I’m glad that I was willing to put myself out there.”