With his media duties complete, Ian Thorpe made his way out of the press conference, and, catching my eye, he smiled and said, ''See, I told you one day I would show you I can swim a good 100m''.
It was Athens back in 2004, and despite focusing his training on the 200m and 400m, Thorpe had just swum 48.56sec, the second fastest by an Australian at that time, to claim the bronze medal in the 100m freestyle.
We had joked for some time in the past about his fascination with the 100m, and whether he would ever ''put it all together'' and swim the race fast, and as he said, that night he showed everyone he could.
It wasn't arrogance, and wasn't taken that way. He was proud of the swim, just as much as his emotional gold in the 400m and his gold in the ''race of the century'', the 200m where he beat Pieter van den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps.
It just typified Ian Thorpe.
Throughout his career he had made a habit of achieving what some felt was unachievable. He didn't do things because people said he couldn't, he did it because he believed he could. As I found with the 100m that night, doubt Thorpe at your own peril. And now, more than seven years on, the story seems so similar. The majority doubt him, logic says it can't be done, yet Thorpe himself believes, and that should not be underestimated.
With the arrival yesterday of the Olympic year, the constant chatter about Thorpe will continue to grow louder. Ever since he announced in February he was making a comeback and targeting an Olympic berth, whether or not he can make it has become the most frequently asked question in sport.
With 3 months before we get the definitive answer the speculation will continue, and it seems everyone has an opinion.
Recently Denis Cotterell, the man who coached Grant Hackett not only to a sensational 1500m career, but also to a number of frustrating seconds behind Thorpe, said he doubted Thorpe would make it.
While he prefaced his comments by saying you should never knock a champion, Cotterell said he felt it was not going to be achievable for Thorpe and that after a long lay-off, he was not where he would like to be or needs to be.
While I don't have the credentials of Cotterell, I, like most others, do have an opinion and for what it's worth, I believe Thorpe will make the team for the Olympics, definitely as a member of the 4x200m freestyle relay team, possibly a spot in the individual 200m, and he could even swim in the 4x100m freestyle relay in London.
He may not be quick enough to finish in the top six in the 100m at the Olympic trials and gain an instant berth on that relay, but as the case usually is, swimmers already on the Olympic team can, closer to the Games, swim time trials in relay events and push their claims for a spot.
With another 4 months of work, Thorpe could be fast enough come July 29.
Thorpe showed in his comeback races on the Asian leg of the World Cup circuit in November, then in Italy last month, that he still has a long way to go, but he also said recently he was ''confident that that gap can be made up,'' and that he ''never intended swimming extremely fast before the trials, and if I do, I have probably got my timing and preparation wrong''.
While his Italian times were far from what he needs at the trials, his goal time - particularly in the 200m - is attainable.
But what if he doesn't make the team?
''If it all goes horribly wrong, I can still say I am glad that I did it. It would have been something that lingered with me for the rest of my life. I felt I needed to do it,'' Thorpe said last month.
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