Former Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe says he is mentally prepared to ''fail'' at next year's London Games, given the short time frame after his decision to come out of retirement.
The Australian retired five years ago, having won five Olympic gold medals, 11 world titles and claiming 13 individual world records.
The 29-year-old Thorpe is training in Switzerland for his comeback, which he announced in February. He returns to competition next month at a World Cup event in Singapore, where he will be competing in the 100-meter individual medley and 100-meter butterfly.
''I'm more comfortable knowing that - chances are - I'm going to fail at this,'' Thorpe said in an interview with the BBC in Switzerland. ''I've become comfortable with that.''
''I'm more prepared to struggle through this whole thing and just enjoy it because I've never experienced that in my career,'' he added. ''I don't think anyone's done this before with the time frame that I have. Realistically, it's probably too short.''
Thorpe said he's more focused on achieving faster times than in winning medals.
''My goal at the start - and this will remain my goal through the Olympics - was to be able to swim faster than I used to,'' he said. ''If at any stage I didn't think I could do that, I don't know if I'd continue.''
