As the Australian Olympic lineup could potentially be boosted by the returns of Thorpe, Klim, Trickett and Huegill, Australian swimmer Ashley Callus announced on Wednesday that he would be retiring from the sport 5 weeks shy of the Australian Olympic Trials.
Callus has been on three Australian Olympic teams, including two medals from relay swims, one of which was gold from the 400 free relay in front of a home crowd in Sydney. In 2008, in Beijing, he surprised the world and took 4th in the 50 free. After that race, Callus announced that he would not return for a 4th Olympics, which seemed to end his career.
But he was not done. Perhaps inspired by the blistering times being posted in the polyurethane suits, Callus returned to action in 2009. He placed 3rd in the 50 free at the Australian Worlds Trials, and though most assumed that would again be the end, he would return later in the year to break Eamon Sullivan’s Australian Record in the 50.
Callus was able to maintain his speed throughout most of 2010, including finals at the 2010 Pan Pac and Commonwealth Games. He hasn’t swum a race longer than 50 meters in over a year-and-a-half, however. This past weekend, he swam a 22.8 in the 50 free at a low-level Queensland sprint meet. That came after a 22.7 the weekend before. Just as it seemed that he was ramping up for a record 4th Olympics, he pulled the plug on the whole thing.
“I’ve been to three Olympics, I have nothing more to prove to myself. The last thing I wanted to do at the age of 33 then is go (to trials) and make up the numbers,” he told the Courier Mail. “The fourth Olympics might be history making but at the end of the day if you had said to me when I was 17 years of age that you’d swim at four Commonwealth Games, win medals, three Olympics and win one gold medal and a bronze, and be very competitive in your events, I would have said you’re kidding.”
And with that, Callus caps a great career with great perspective.
