Injury-hit Sullivan thought of retiring

Australia's former dual world record holder Eamon Sullivan said Friday he contemplated retirement before rediscovering his love of swimming by watching replays of his world record-breaking performances.

Sullivan, 24, said he went through a dark period last December after discovering he had to undergo the fifth hip operation of his injury-troubled career.

He missed training sessions and his coach Grant Stoelwinder said he fully expected his star swimmer to quit the sport.

But Sullivan said replaying his record-shattering performances from 2008 had inspired him to swim on to the 2012 London Olympics.

"When I did ask myself the question do I want to retire, I went on Youtube and watched all my videos of world records," Sullivan told reporters ahead of next week's Australian Commonwealth Games selection trials in Sydney.

"The amount of emotion I felt that definitely ruled out that possibility straight away.

"I still have that fire to get back to where I was."

It has been a tough time for Sullivan since the 2008 Beijing Olympics because of illness and injury.

"When you have been through so many injuries with him, actually this time I thought I don't know how many more times you (Sullivan) can go on," Stoelwinder said.

SYDNEY, Sunday AFP