Legends Hackett, Phelps training together for Rio

SYDNEY — Swimming legends Michael Phelps and Grant Hackett have been training together and swapping tips about their “ups and downs” as they target next year’s Rio Olympics. Dual Olympic champion Hackett, 35, has come out of six years of troubled retirement to try to make Australia’s team for Rio next year, and has just spent three weeks training with Phelps under coach Bob Bowman in Arizona. He also trained with American stars Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin, who gave him a crash course in cutting-edge techniques in the sport, The Australian newspaper reported. Hackett, who retired in 2008 after winning the 1,500m freestyle at both the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics, and claiming four world titles in the event, said he found his time with Phelps particularly beneficial. “I really, really enjoyed that. It was nice to go somewhere and have a single focus and sit in there and see how they approach training,” he told the broadsheet. “I stayed with Michael for some time. He’s been through his ups and downs as I have and we talked very candidly about those things. He’s a very insightful character.” The toned and fit-looking Hackett said his level of focus felt like he was approaching his first Olympics again. “When I look at my birth certificate I know it’s not my first Olympics but this campaign is also like a rebirth for me. I have come back to it with a totally different perspective,” he said. Hackett’s life after swimming quickly ran into problems with a messy divorce and allegations he smashed up his Melbourne apartment, while 18-time Olympic gold medalist Phelps has battled alcohol issues. Korean star’s doctor fined In Seoul, a South Korean doctor was fined $847 Thursday for injecting swimming star Park Tae-hwan with steroids, an incident which resulted in an 18-month ban for the former Olympic champion. The doctor, identified only by her surname, Kim, was found guilty of breaching the medical code but cleared of the more serious charge of causing Park bodily harm. Park, 25, faces missing next year’s Rio Olympics after he failed a drugs test in September last year and was later banned for 18 months by world body FINA. The doctor told Seoul district court she had been “victimised as a scapegoat” ahead of the FINA hearing as the four-time Olympic medalist fought to clear his name. She said that despite an earlier denial from his management team, Park was well aware he was receiving male hormone and vitamin injections when he visited her hospital in December 2013 and July 2014. “After these two occasions, Park himself selected injections and I thought both his agents and Park were well in control” (of any potential doping problems), she said last month in her final testimony. She is free to continue her practice.