Magnussen eager to resume Cielo swimming rivalry

MANCHESTER, England (AFP) –

Australian freestyle swimmer James Magnussen attends a training session at the Manchester Aquatics centre in Manchester, northwest England. Magnussen is looking forward to the prospect of racing for sprint swimming golds against Brazil’s Cesar Cielo at the London Olympics.

Australia’s James Magnussen is looking forward to the prospect of racing for sprint swimming golds against Brazil’s Cesar Cielo at the London Olympics.

But the man nicknamed the ‘missile” has dismissed talk of a ‘grudge match’ with the South American or indeed any of his rivals for Olympic gold.

Cielo is the world record holder for both the 50 metres and 100 metres freestyle and won gold over the shorter distance at the Beijing Olympics.

However, Magnussen is the current 100m world champion and earlier this year swam the fastest time in history to be achieved in a textile suit in that event.

London will be the 21-year-old Magnussen’s first Olympics and, speaking at the Australia swimming team’s pre-Games training camp here on Monday, said: “It’s good to have someone like Cesar.

“The way I feel is that the better the field is in London, the bigger the result if I’m able to win it, so I’m really glad to have Cesar there.

“I’m sure he’ll be pushing the pace early on in the race, and that is something that I’m able to feed off.

“I guess having only raced him once at a big meet before, it’s not really a rivalry that has come to a head too often.

“It is sort of hard to say what our relationship will be come London, but certainly it is not a grudge match at this point.”

A picture shows a general view of the swimming pool inside of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in south London. Australia’s James Magnussen is looking forward to the prospect of racing for sprint swimming golds against Brazil’s Cesar Cielo at the London Olympics.

Also aiming for a medal in the 100m freestyle — a race no Australian man has won at the Olympics since Michael Wenden in 1968 — is another 21-year-old Aussie in James Roberts, who holds the second-fastest textiles time in the event.

But Magnussen played down suggestions Roberts was his arch-rival by saying: “I don’t know if I would call James that!

“I’ve been friends with him for a long time and raced with him for a long time. It is sort of hard to get your head around the fact that we are now going to be racing each other for Olympic gold.

“Like I said with Cesar, there is certainly no grudge match between James and myself.”

Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe failed to qualify for London 2012 after a dramatic comeback to swimming following several years out of the pool.

But he remains a powerful inspiration for Magnussen.

“I grew up as a young kid watching Thorpey and I guess the part of his racing and mentality that I would like to bring to the table is the fact that every time I as a member of the public watched Thorpey race on TV, there was never any doubt in my mind that he was going to win,” Magnussen said.

“If people back in Australia could say ‘it’s James Magnussen’s race coming on TV — it’s a sure thing’, I think that is a pretty special thing.

“It is something Thorpey was able to sustain for a number of years and something I’d like to sustain as well.”