Hackett to be tested in Olympic 1500m swim in Beijing
Grant Hackett won’t have it all his own way in Beijing Olympic 1500m event. Who remembers the 2000 Sydney Olympics when Kieren Perkins was trying to win his third straight 1500m gold medal? On that occasion Hackett was just too good.
On the final day of swimming at the US Olympic trials Peter Vanderkaay served notice to Australia’s king of the 1500m Grant Hackett, after the fastest swim of the year. Vanderkaay stopped the clock at 14min 45.50sec.
The time was the fourth fastest in history and took 7.02 seconds from his personal best. Hackett now knows that he has to look over his shoulder or he could see his dream of winning three consecutive 1500m Olympic Gold medals will get torpedoed in the pool at the China Olympics.
At the last world championships Hackett was out of form following his comeback from injury and put in a dissapointing result in the 1500m where he placed seventh. This ended his 10 year domination of the event.
Hackett was back to near his best for the Australian swim team Olympic trials in March and will be one of the favorites going into Beijing.
Australians will be watching with interest to see if he can pull off a win on 17 August to claim his third Olympic 1500m gold.
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