Ian Thorpe's comeback bid for a third Olympic Games ended yesterday as the swimming great crashed out of in the heats of the 100 metres freestyle at the Australian trials in Adelaide.
The five-times Olympic champion had previously failed in the 200 freestyle earlier in the trials, robbing the meeting of its headline act, though the triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice went some way to easing the crowd's disappointment by clinching the 200 individual medley title session to qualify for a second event in London.
The former bad boy of Australian swimming, Nick D'Arcy won the 200 butterfly title to book his London ticket, four years after being kicked off the Beijing-bound team for punching fellow swimmer Simon Cowley at a Sydney night club.
