I also enjoyed being able to get back to Melbourne for Easter lunch with Candice and her family.

Speaking of Candice, she is now 16 weeks pregnant and doing very well carrying the twins. We’ve only bought a few things like rockers as we don’t know what sex the babies are, so we haven’t gone out and bought clothes or anything yet.

Anyway, onto what I intended to blog about this week and seeing as I’m playing a bit of catch up I thought I would talk about the Telstra Australian Swimming Championships and how swimming has been treated in the media of late.

The swimmer who really impressed me was Ryan Napoleon from Queensland as he stamped himself as our newest hope in the 1500m freestyle.

It’s no secret the event is close to my heart and I, like many, thought we may have had a bit of a gap before someone stood up and became noticed, but Ryan jumped up at the trials, swam a good time at one of his first attempts and looks a swimmer of the future.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak with Ryan since (I hadn’t ever met him before the trials) and without putting pressure on him I think he can do very well. He’s not ready to break world records in the race yet, but give him time and I really believe with the level head on his shoulders he could achieve a lot.

I hope he does! Australian swimming has a long and proud history in the 1500. For the last five Olympic Games we have been right in the mix with the surnames Housman, Kowalski, Perkins and my own Hackett playing a part in the history of the event.

In 92, 96 and 2000 we were first and second, won it in ‘04 and were runners up in ‘08. It’s an incredible history to have and being able to quinella the event three Olympics in a row is special, as you have a maximum of two competitors representing.

I hope to see Ryan up there in 2012.

Of the other performances I thought Jessicah Schipper, Libby Trickett, Stephanie Rice and Eamon Sullivan were the standouts.

Jess Schipper was brilliant and I’m very happy for her, as she is one of the nicest people you could ever meet.

Libby Trickett showed her class once again, as did Eamon Sullivan who overcame hip surgery just a few weeks out from the trials to perform very well.

Steph Rice also performed very well. I think Steph shut the critics up to a degree with her performances and showed she will be in the swimming spotlight for a while to come.

The spotlight also shines on our swimmers out of the pool and I can’t help but think that swimmers have been treated a little harshly in the last year.

Of course when you talk about swimmers and the media, the first name which comes to mind is Nick D’Arcy.

Nick has recently been kicked off the squad to represent Australia at the World Champs in Rome and whether it’s right or wrong is not the issue for me. I just hope Swimming Australia can give Nick some clarity on where they are going and allow him to make an informed decision about his future. I think the whole issue has dragged on long enough in the media.

Negative incidents are nearly always blown up by the media and I think swimming in this country has suffered unnecessarily for this one. It may not have been managed well by Swimming Australia, due to them not having had many incidents to deal with in the past and I think they could have done better in this regard.

At the same time it’s the first major incident in swimming in this country in 10 years, when other sports seem to have an ‘incident’ every other week.

As I said I think swimming has suffered for it, despite it’s very clean record and I don’t feel it’s all that fair.

Neither was the reporting of minor incidents which were blown out of the water involving Steph Rice and Eamon Sullivan.

In Steph’s case I know some stories were simply inaccurate and as far as her behaviour went I felt it was all pretty innocent and the inaccurate stories hurt the person involved but that’s the price you can pay for being in the public eye. However, as long as Steph is swimming well I think she will continue to silence the critics.

As for Eamon when I saw him splashed across the front pages of papers for the ‘cab incident’ I couldn’t believe it. Eamon is a mate, but he is also a gentleman, and I don’t say that lightly!

I called Eamon the day after and I remember him saying “I swear I gave him more than enough.” How many people would have police turning up at their place for the alleged short changing of around $3-4?

Regardless of all of that I know Eamon and know he revels in being a role model who kids can look up to and he can encourage to participate in sport.

Hacky

One would think retirement would mean a relaxing time, but in my case it’s just the opposite as I have become even busier than I was when I was swimming.

Having said that, that’s exactly what I want as a 28 year old entering his post swimming career.

I have taken the opportunity to stay involved with sport thanks to Channel 9 and my role as a co-anchor on the news and am also putting the commerce/law degree I have been chipping away at to good use, thanks to Westpac, who have taken me on board in the private banking sector.

I’m really enjoying all my roles at the moment, but the news took me out of my comfort zone early on. I had just two days training before I was reporting the sports news off an autocue on live TV.

It was a very steep learning curve and the live atmosphere doesn’t make it any easier. Happily though I found reading the news to be very similar to swimming in the sense that you only get one opportunity to do it right. Being surrounded by good supportive people helped a lot.

Three months down the track I think I am doing well at it and will be co-hosting Wide World of Sports this weekend with the one and only Ken Sutcliffe. It’s an experience I am looking forward to.

Aside from those gigs the possibility of going to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics has been raised and whilst I won’t know what my role will be for a while I feel I am ready for it. Eddie McGuire has been mentioned as the man to anchor the broadcast and if I get the opportunity to work with him I’d be chuffed. Eddie knows his stuff and is certainly someone I can learn from.

I’ve also got a co-hosting role on Nine’s lifestyle program ‘What’s Good For You’ beginning tomorrow night at 7:30pm, so make sure you tune into that.

As I mentioned I am also working on a finance career with Westpac and am enjoying it immensely, although I find myself locked away in the study when I am home reading textbooks. It’s just like university but a bit more intense.

I miss the competition but don’t miss the training at all. For so long I had such a regimented program that it feels good to be rid of it and not constantly tired from early starts.

I think one of the keys for me after swimming is to make sure I am busy and doing something I enjoy which challenges me, and both my roles with Nine and Westpac certainly do that.

It’s no secret some sportspeople in the past have struggled with what they would do after they finished their careers and I hope I can show that you are able to do whatever you want should you put your mind to it.

I’ve also been lucky in the sense I have kept sponsors like Telstra and Uncle Toby’s as well as being able to shoot some ads for Tourism Queensland, which isn’t a bad gig to come by. We went via helicopter to Fraser Island, Hervey Bay and Moreton Bay amongst other locations in a whirlwind two day shoot which was very enjoyable.

Outside of work, Candice and I are looking forward to the birth of twins in the not to distant future and believe me I’m making sure I get my sleep in now!

I’m sure I’ll realise what a valuable commodity sleep is once the babies arrive. Candice and I were planning on having kids in the next year and to have twins I’m sure will be a blessing and the good moments will outweigh the sleepless nights.

It’s definitely going to make my parents happy. My brother has just welcomed his second son Harrison into the world along with his other son Lachlan, which means mum and dad will have four grandkids to spoil later this year and Christmas will be very enjoyable.

It also means I’ll actually have a valid excuse to go toy shopping!

I’ll be back with another blog next week with some of my thoughts on the current Aussie swim team.

Grant

I’m slowly slipping back into a routine now that I am home and I suppose I should address the Olympics.

Overall I really enjoyed the Games and the organization was better than what I expected. I was pleasantly surprised to see how friendly the volunteers were and also how many of them there were.

I think the totals were 100,000 volunteers, 10,500 athletes and 30,000 accredited media. That’s quite a few of each, but for every athlete we had about 10 volunteers which was amazing.

It also shows just how enormous the Olympics are. I don’t know of any other sporting event can even come close to those numbers. The Olympics truly are a world event.

I remember walking to the dining hall, looking around and seeing the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Kobe Bryant. These are guys who truly are global superstars of their sports, it was amazing.

I actually had the opportunity to meet Kobe which was a highlight, as was watching the Dream Team walk around together. Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and the rest, looking at them the term Dream Team seemed spot on.

The athletes’ village was actually the best one I have experienced because of the way it was set out and the feeling in the village.

Spectator wise I thought the ‘Bird’s Nest’ and the ‘Water Cube’ were amazing for the atmosphere they were able to create and now that I have mentioned the Water Cube I guess I have to talk about the 1500.

I still watch that race on replay and want the result to change; it was hard to lose in the 1500 metres.

I put down my best time at an Olympics in the heat swim and if I could have replicated that in the final then I would have won. But that’s the problem with having to swim two fast races in a row, things don’t always go to plan, but I take my hat off to anyone who wins a gold medal.

While I didn’t win gold, the swim team performed well, medalling in every relay and winning two more medals than we ever had before.

I can’t speak about Beijing without mentioning Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals. To something like that at that level is simply not human. The man is a freakish talent, there were so many of his races that came down to a fingernail and he won them. I’m actually really happy for Michael as he is a top bloke and I know him reasonably well.

Out of the pool the Telstra People’s Choice Awards are coming up and I am nominated, but more importantly if you vote you have a great chance to win great prizes.

You and a friend could win an amazing trip to the 2008 Telstra Swimmer of the Year Awards, held at the very swish Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre. There’s also a bunch of Apple iPhones, signed photos and other sweet stuff up for grabs. For your chance to win, all you have to do is vote for your favourite swimmer. No pressure on who you should vote for!

Just visit http://www.beinvolved.telstra.com/default.aspx and cast your vote.

Grant

Greetings from Singapore! My final prep and race strategy are being fine tuned in the steamy island nation – the optimum environment to acclimatise for Beijing. Ian Pope and fellow swimmers Travis Nederpelt & Matt Targett are here with me before we join the rest of the team in Kuala Lumpur next week. It’s a fairly relaxed environment and I’ve had time-out to reflect on the past couple of months….

It was a great week for me last week, with my Victorian Short Course results providing a timely confidence boost just before the Games. Especially after breaking my own world record in the 800 meters freestyle and winning the 400m free as well.

I’m sure with the Olympics not far away some would question the benefit of swimming short course, but I think it’s good to have variety in your racing. If anything, racing in the short course gave me a chance to work on some technical aspects of my swimming such as turns.

Plenty has been asked of me about the Olympics and winning the same event for three straight games in the 1500m freestyle. Winning any event would be welcome and a moment I would cherish, but of course I am very keen to become the first male swimmer to achieve the “three-peat” in the one event.

The thing about the 1500 is I don’t see myself as a clear favourite going into the race, even though people may expect me to win.

There are plenty of genuine contenders in the field and it would be foolish to discount any of them. There’s Peter Vanderkaay of the USA, who has the fastest time this year and the current world champion Mateusz Sawrymowicz of Poland, not to mention my old nemeses Larsen Jensen and David Davies. It is going to be a great race and I am looking forward to it.

I know I have done the work and I expect to perform well. I am full of confidence that the rest will take care of itself.

As for the rest of the team, I am quietly confident we can do well, but I am not going to put a number on the amount of gold medals we will win. To do would be foolish as I may end up eating my words if I get it wrong. Not to mention the unnecessary pressure it could place on everyone.

As I have said I believe we will be strong, but there are plenty of countries with top class swimmers competing. It’s not a case of Australia versus USA. The Poles are strong as are Russia, Japan, Great Britain and of course the hosts China.

To sign off on my last blog until after the Games, I would like to give a massive “thank you” to everyone who has helped me get into such a strong position leading into Beijing. A lot of people wrote me off after my sub-par performances at the Melbourne World Championships. However my “pit crew” has not budged in their support for me and the challenges I have faced over the last eighteen months. A special mention to my parents, Marg and Nev; they are everything one could wish for in supportive parents. It all started with them and I can’t thank them enough.

Until after Beijing – take care.

Training is very full on at the moment as you could imagine. Aside from training at home in Melbourne I have been to a training camp in Cairns, the Telstra Grand Prix meet in Sydney and the main interest of a story about me being like ‘the boy in the bubble’.

So I’ll start with the training camp, which was a trip I really enjoyed as being a Queensland boy I love to break up the Victorian winter with a bit of sunshine and the far north didn’t disappoint.

I got to train outdoors and really focus on my preparation and having my good mate Ky Hurst around didn’t hurt either.

We then went to Sydney for the Grand Prix meet and I was very happy with the way I swam. I hadn’t tapered at all so to swim a 3.46 in the 400 freestyle and break 15 minutes for the 1500 freestyle for the first time at a small meet was a huge confidence boost for me. For the record I swam 14.51.

As I said it gives me plenty of confidence heading in to the Olympic Games in Beijing but I will continue to train hard and attempt to improve as I search for gold medals, particularly in the 1500 metres in what will be my last Olympics.

While I probably won’t retire immediately afterwards I can’t see myself making it to London in another four years time, or perhaps even having the desire to.

That’s part of the reason why I have gone to great lengths to protect my health this time around, but in my view I am simply being smart about the issue and doing no more than any other athlete who wants to win in Beijing would. If that means I don’t touch handrails or whatever else so be it.

I never actually read the article but I have heard about it and while I can confirm everything written was true, including that I do wear a mask on planes, so does the rest of the swim team and have been since 2002.

Does it look a bit weird? Probably, but planes are a place where there are plenty of colds and germs due to the air conditioning and the amount of people who are on them.

I can also confirm I won’t be participating in the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Games. For me it’s really not worth it and even if I was offered the opportunity to carry the flag I would say no, despite what an honour it would be.

I would be standing for hours and I don’t want to even take the chance of jeopardising my race chances. Because that is what I am there for!

Having said all that I am certainly not going to be paranoid about colds or my health, worrying about it doesn’t help. I think I proved that in Athens when I worried a lot and got sick.

There has been plenty going on in the swimming world, but perhaps the most exciting thing was to see how well Michael Phelps swam in the US Olympic Trials.

Phelps went on to say he wants to set a record at the Games and he is such a superstar he could achieve a record haul of gold medals. It will take a swimmer right on their game to defeat him in any event.

I head off for Singapore, Malaysia and China on July 19 and I’ll post again before then.

Take care - Grant

Ever since I have been back in Australia it’s been all about training for me. It’s really all I have done as I have had little time for anything else with Beijing just around the corner.

Training has actually been quite hard. The 10 kilometre race in Seville took a lot out of me. It’s the swimmers equivalent of a marathon and just to elaborate on why I looked bloated after the event, there were a number of factors including carbo-loading and swallowing some water while I was out there.

The greater irony is I was weighing 93 kilograms at the time and I like to race at 95, while during the World Championships last year I weighed 99-100 kilograms and no one said anything.

I’ve been asked a lot about what my future holds beyond Beijing and to be honest I don’t really know.

My entire focus right now is Beijing and all I know is afterwards I will be taking a well-earned holiday with Candice. We only had four days for our Honeymoon after all.

In regards to Nick D’Arcy, he has taken his appeal as far as it can really go as far as the outcome is concerned.

At some stage you have to take responsibility for your actions. It is a shame. Nick has put so much hard work into his Olympic campaign, set a new national record and then he has had it all taken away.

Outside of the pool I have done some work on advertising campaigns for Uncle Toby’s, Telstra and Varta Batteries as well as watched an Origin game where I was disappointed with the way my home state played.

It seemed to me like Queensland felt they were the better team and then NSW came out and surprised them, dominating for 80-90% of the game. However being a Queenslander I know they will come back hard in game 2.

I have never actually been to an Origin game because of the timing of training and major events and, along with the Formula One Grand Prix - if it stays - is an event I really want to see when I retire.

Grant

Europe was fantastic and I had a great time over there from the very start. I was able to take in the World Short Course Championships as a commentator for the BBC and really enjoyed that. The coverage was only in Europe so know one would have heard me here.

I was told I was actually quite good by a few of the swimmers who said it was great  to have someone who has been around swimming for such a long time involved.  It was reassuring to know my peers thought I did okay. Looking forward, commentary is something I would definitely consider at the end of my career.

From there I went to Canet in France with the rest of the open water team and I really enjoyed my time with them. It was a close-knit group, which is something I am not used to having been a part of large teams for so long.

The race. I was expecting to be a target and what a target I was!  Despite all the rough stuff out there, I was swimming well until the nine kilometre mark when my leg was pulled and a whole bunch of guys swam over the top of me, pushing me back in the field.

I was actually swimming fast enough that, had it have been in a pool, I would have been able to pass the guys who went over me. However, having to navigate my way through the pack was difficult, and my lack of experience probably hurt me a bit there.

I’m disappointed because I put a lot of effort into the event, but at the same time also made sure I didn’t sacrifice my chances in Beijing for it. I remained in training for my pool events right through the time I was in Europe and didn’t taper for the open water.

The fact I was only 3.6 seconds behind Ky Hurst, who finished 5th, showed how close the race was and how well I swam under the circumstances.

As I said, there was some rough stuff out there and I was dunked several times during the race. I thought justice was served when a Spanish competitor jumped on my shoulders and pushed me under water right before the finish line; giving the judges no option but to disqualify him.

As it turned out I too would get disqualified for swimming over people but compared to what was done to me by other competitors who didn’t get penalised, I was shocked.

After the race I was ecstatic for Ky. We have known each other since we were 10 years old and for him to achieve his dream of competing at the Olympics makes me happy. I will be proud to go to Beijing with him and I also think he is a huge medal chance.

The media attention when I got home was silly at best and ridiculous at its worst. That infamous photo was taken at the most untimely moment and I found the ensuing media reaction amusing more than anything else.

I think the images of me training the same week back in Australia let everyone know I hadn’t been over indulging. My skin folds are the lowest they have ever been and whilst I have never been ‘ripped’ I’m in great shape.  Distance swimmers also tend to carry a bit more weight than the buff sprinters.

Time is ticking and it’s back to the hard slog at home before the team heads off to the Olympic Staging Camp in Kuala Lumpur.

Grant

I’m glad to be home after what was a really good, but long, week at the Olympic Trials where I swam well in the 200m, 400m and 1500m freestyle events and claimed my place on the Olympic team.

People tend to think it’s a given that the top swimmers will qualify but it’s a one shot deal and if you miss out there are no second chances so to make the team again makes me feel extremely relieved.

I’m really excited to have qualified in the 1500m and to be having a crack at three in a row which is something no one has ever done in the event. I’m making sure I do everything correctly in the build up to that event to give myself a chance at creating history in Beijing.

I do love the 1500m and I love it because of the challenge it presents. I suppose it’s the pool equivalent of the 5000m run where you see the guy red faced and hurting trying to make it to the finish line. I have always loved the battle to make it to the finish.

In the 400m I was very happy with time I swam as it lets me know I can be very competitive at the Olympics, especially if I keep improving in the lead up to it.

As for the 200m  it was a real surprise to win it as I only wanted to be a part of the relay in Beijing and that’s what I will do. I always said I would rather finish fourth in a fast time than win in a slow one. To win in a fast one with the top nine guys going under the Olympic Qualifying time was a huge result for me and gave me plenty of confidence going into the other events.

I was really excited by the performances in general and the times. The only negative to the fast times that were swum was that we are now motivating the rest of the world to swim faster, especially the USA who, despite the times we swam, are still the real powerhouse in world swimming.

There has still been plenty of talk about the Speedo suits and while they are an unbelievable product the media has looked for a story and found it to a degree.  People are always surprised when they pick up the suits because they expect them to be heavy like a wetsuit but they are really light and thin.

I thought the best performances at the trials belonged to Eamon Sullivan, Libby Trickett and Steph Rice. There were a lot of others but those three stood out for me and Steph erasing the potentially tainted world record of YanYan Wu was a great moment in swimming. It’s always good to see records that were made by people who have taken performance enhancing drugs at some stage of their career disappear. Especially when they are beaten by someone who is totally against drugs in sport.

The Nick D’Arcy incident has been hard to deal with and thankfully I haven’t had much to do with it. We can speculate on what is going to happen but as it is the subject of a police investigation I believe people should refrain from commenting and let the police and then the AOC handle the decision-making and let the rest of the team focus on moving forward.

I am off to Europe next week in my attempt to qualify for the 10 kilometre Open Water event and that is my next big focus. I will leave with plenty of confidence in my ability to finish in the top 10 and qualify for the Beijing Games.

Grant

The NSW championships were a while ago now, but I have to say I was very happy with my form. I haven’t swum times like that for around three years. It was also a great weekend for Eamon Sullivan who not only broke the world record in the 50 metre freestyle but also broke the Australian record in the 100m freestyle with the third fastest time ever. Not a bad weekend for Eamon that one!

I also got to race for the first time in the new Speedo suit and it’s certainly the best one they have produced.

Having said that I really want to say the following: it is not the suit that is causing times to be lowered. It is the person in it improving with training and, while the suit is a technological advancement, it is not the reason for times being lowered. If you threw the suit in the pool I guarantee you it wouldn’t go anywhere!

The current suits are an example of the evolution of sport. And when you look at it there is a not a single sport that hasn’t used technological advancements in the past.

You don’t see Roger Federer using a wooden racket, he has the latest equipment. Lance Armstrong didn’t race on a 40 year old bike and Michael Jordan always had the newest most advanced shoes, not that they really helped me as a kid shooting hoops in the backyard.

The point is swimming should be no different and the suit is the furthest thing from cheating there is. The suits are legal within the sport so I honestly think the focus should be on the athletes.

Lately I have been keeping myself busy with training, albeit a much lighter load now as part of the tapering process, and I certainly have more energy than what I did a few weeks ago.

To give you an idea of the workload, when I am in full training I will swim 70-75 kilometres a week. Last week I did 35-40 kilometres so it is considerably less and it really gives me a lot more energy.

I did have the flu last week, which is always a struggle for me, because it usually leads to my asthma playing up. It’s certainly not something I want to have happen in Beijing with the air pollution there. Already one of the leading marathon contenders Haile Gebrselassie has dropped his event and my doctors are working on strategies to make sure I don’t have problems because of the air quality.

It really is a big help that the pool is indoors.

With the Olympic Trials on next weekend at Homebush I am starting to get excited. Homebush is a great facility and the pool is fast so I think there will be some good times produced.

My schedule is as follows.

Day 1 – 400m freestyle, Days 2/3 - 200m freestyle, Day 4 - 4×200m freestyle relay, Day 7 – 1500m freestyle heats, Day 8 1500m freestyle finals.

It’s a pretty full on schedule and I want to point out I am not going for a single swimmer spot in the 200m freestyle. I only want to finish top four for a spot on the relay team and would be happy for three other swimmers to be faster than me in that event. I expect Kenrick Monk to be the favourite.

I don’t know how many of you read ‘Wealth’ Magazine but I did a story for them which was in last month’s edition and they got all sorts of facts wrong, including my middle name (I don’t have one) but they said it was George. I just thought it was amusing.

Hacky

It’s now officially an Olympic year and I can just see the time from now until March flying like you wouldn’t believe, but I will give you a quick recap of what I have been up to first.

Christmas was great and I got to spend it with Candice and her family. I got plenty of nice presents including a wallet and clothes and was generally spoilt. No rest for the wicked though as I had to do a short training session on Christmas Day and was back into the hard stuff on Boxing Day.

New Years came and went and I had a great view of the fireworks from my apartment, which was sweet. It’s actually the first year I didn’t head back to the Gold Coast which turned out to be a blessing because I heard the weather was awful.

My brother and his family also graced us with their presence for a week and I really enjoyed catching up with them.

The Victorian State titles were held between the 4th and 8th of January. I competed in the 100, 200, 400 and 800 metre freestyle and the 4×100 and 4×200 metre freestyle relays. Overall it was a good meet for me. I pulled out some very good times and was named swimmer of the meet.

I did manage to head up to the Gold Coast for an Uncle Toby’s appearance where I had some fun on ’The Tornado‘ at Wet ‘n’Wild as well as have lunch with some competition winners at Sea World. Libby Lenton and Leisel Jones were there as well. They went swimming with the dolphins, while I hopped on a plane – lucky them. Swimming with dolphins is amazing and they are truly majestic creatures.

Candice and I attended the Australian Open men’s singles final and saw what was an entertaining match between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Novak Djokovic. I felt a little bit sorry for Djokovic as the crowd was constantly on his back and that cannot have been easy.

I think it may have had a little bit to do with his on court demeanour and the way his interviews may have been perceived by some fans. It’s very easy to be misconstrued in your second language.

Having said that I really enjoyed seeing the final between two players who undoubtedly have huge futures in the game.

I saw the images of the swimming centre in Beijing and if the outside is anything to go by the inside will be spectacular. Swimming venues are always unique for major meets and this is no exception.

Some of my favourites have been the Barcelona Olympic pool, the Sydney Olympic pool, the Olympic pool in Athens and the pool they had built in Rod Laver Arena.

At the moment I am preparing for the Olympic trials and feel like I am on track to do well. There haven’t been many meets across the world this year, but I think when Olympic trials are held across the world we will know plenty about who is in form. While there will always be world records falling, for me this year is about winning.

Gold medals last a lifetime. World records always tumble.

Take care - Grant