Menzies said yesterday she did not want to second-guess her former pupil and did not have any knowledge of his training regimen under respected coach Gennadi Touretski. But she had been surprised that he had made the decision to come back to a very different swimming landscape so late. Read The Sydney Morning Herald, via Gold Medal Mel on Facebook.

“”You always felt there was unfinished business, but it was surprising in that you would have thought he would have made it earlier,” Menzies said. ”If he’s done everything in his power to do the right things, then the results will speak for themselves but it’s a different swimming world now. Knowing the work that he did to get to that level [at his peak], he has to do that and more.””

In other news from that Sydney Morning Herald story, Michael Klim is feeling a lot better, after having suffered a flare-up of his troublesome shoulder before Christmas. So he’ll swim the 50 and 100 freestyle this weekend.

”It’s just come good and turned the corner on the weekend,” Klim said. ”It was really sort of touch-and-go … I don’t think I’ve lost anything at the moment.”