Huegill hoping to swim at 2012 Olympics

Geoff "Skippy" Huegill has his mojo back and is considering bouncing all the way to
the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The former world champion butterflyer continued his impressive comeback from obesity
with a bronze medal in the 50m event at the NSW championships on Saturday with a
slick time of 24.05 seconds.
Huegill was six tenths of a second from his 2001 world title-winning best time and
less than half a second from Olympic bronze medallist Andrew Lauterstein (23.65s)
and Matt Jaukovic (23.86s).
It was Huegill's first medal since the 2004 Olympic trials, putting him on track for
a return to the national team and he is considering kicking on for another three
years for his third Olympics.
"I do think about it. It is another three years away but three years will go very
quickly," said Huegill.
"There is a long way to go. I need to drop more weight, get fitter, faster and
stronger.
"As long as I'm enjoying it and the desire is burning I'm happy to block out three
years of my life to go to another Olympics.
"I would say it would be better (than my other Olympics)."
The 29-year-old weighed over 130kg this time last year but has steadily shed the
excess weight to now tip the scales at 100kg after 13 weeks of intense training.
He has dropped eight tenths of a second off his 50m time in six weeks and is hoping
another drop in the next four weeks can put him into reckoning for a spot on the
world championship team at the trials from March 19-22.
Huegill will need a top two finish and a time ranked in the world's top four to earn
selection on the team for Rome.
Jess Schipper (57.87s) admitted she was "shocked" with her 100m butterfly time and
victory over Olympic champion Libby Trickett (58.16s) on Saturday.
Training with Trickett's former coach Stephan Widmer, Schipper said she was starting
to benefit from the extra gym sessions and professionalism at her new squad in
Brisbane.
"It's almost faster than the time I did at the Olympics," said Schipper, who won
bronze in Beijing.
"I'm doing a lot more gym than I used to ... I can do chin ups now."
Olympic relay gold medallist Bronte Barratt signalled her intentions for a standout
2009 to win the 400m freestyle in a time of 4 minutes 5.20 seconds, just over a
second off her time in Beijing last year.
Barratt said winning a gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay team had inspired
her to take her individual performances to the next level this year.
"Getting a gold medal was absolutely amazing but I was really disappointed with my
individual swims at the Olympics," said Barratt.
"I know what it's like to experience the high of winning a gold medal as a team and
can only imagine what it's like to do it as an individual."
"It is a reminder of what I want to do in swimming."
Trickett recovered from her 100m fly loss to claim a victory in the 50m freestyle
with a time of 24.53s ahead of Swede Therese Alshammar (24.79s).
Other winners on Saturday included Ashley Delaney (200m backstroke), Kenrick Monk
(200m freestyle), Belinda Hocking (100m backstroke), Brenton Rickard (100m
breaststroke) and Sarah Katsoulis (200m breaststroke).