Expressing his hopes of a rematch with Australian legend Ian Thorpe at the London Olympics, swimming ace Michael Phelps has welcomed the chance to reverse the result at next year's Olympics.
In what was dubbed the "Race of the Century", Thorpe defeated Dutch great Pieter van den Hoogenband and Phelps in the 200-metre final of the 2004 Athens Games.
"Ian's one of the all-time greats in swimming; it's definitely good to have someone like him back in the sport," Phelps told The Sun-Herald.
"I think his return will bring more attention to swimming and should help to continue to grow the sport. 'Hopefully we'll get the chance to race each other," he added.
Thorpe will target the 100m and 200m freestyle in London, raising hopes of another duel in the pool with Phelps in the 200m event.
The pair have gone head to head on one other occasion, the 2003 world championships.
Phelps smashed his previous world record time of one minute, 56.04 seconds in the 200m individual medley to win the gold medal, almost three seconds ahead of Thorpe.
Thorpe was lauded as perhaps the greatest swimmer of all time when he retired. That mantle now belongs to Phelps.
Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals 14 of them gold compared to Thorpe's nine (five gold).
