Swimmer Thorpe says he’s retiring

Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe retired from competitive swimming Monday at the age of 24, saying breaking records “wasn’t as inspiring as it should have been.”

Thorpe, who held a news conference at a Sydney hotel, said he decided at “2:53 on Sunday afternoon” not to swim at next year’s world championships and to end his pro swimming career.

“It’s been a tough decision to make,” he said.

“I had to pick a time, that was the time. None of my goals included breaking any more world records. I knew how to do it, but it wasn’t as inspiring as it should have been.”

Plagued by illness, injury and a lack of motivation, Thorpe hasn’t competed in a major international event since the Athens Olympics.

Thorpe burst onto the swimming scene as a teenager and swam to 13 world records between 1999 and 2002, becoming an international star after dominating at the Sydney Olympics.

He had to train in California earlier this year to escape the heavy media scrutiny in Australia.

“I’ve reached all the dizzying heights of this sport,” he said. “I’ve also had a tremendous amount of success. I’ve also had setbacks -- the last round of them sent me to L.A. where I could focus on what I was doing with fewer distractions than I have here.”

The Australian swimmer, nicknamed “Thorpedo,” won the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events at the Athens Olympics.

Thorpe, who won five Olympic gold medals and 11 world titles, did not rule out a comeback.

“I never rule anything out, but it’s not going to happen,” he said.

MISCELLANY

Bonds’ trainer returns

to prison again

Greg Anderson, the personal trainer of Barry Bonds, returned to a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., for refusing to fully testify before a federal grand jury investigating whether Bonds committed perjury.

By not cooperating with prosecutors, Anderson is subject to imprisonment throughout the term of the grand jury, which expires in February 2008.

-- Lance Pugmire

Pepperdine will honor the 60th anniversary of it’s first football team tonight at halftime of its basketball game against UC Santa Barbara.

The 1946 team from what was then known as George Pepperdine College finished with an 8-1 record and defeated Nebraska Wesleyan in the inaugural Will Rogers Bowl.

Pepperdine’s only loss that year -- in its second game -- came against Arizona State. At least 10 members of that team are expected to be in attendance.

Pepperdine, which was 9-0 and won the small college national championship the next year, discontinued football after the 1961 season.

Three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond wants athletes who cheat by using banned drugs to face criminal charges for defrauding the public and their sponsors.

LeMond also told the World Anti-Doping Agency at Montreal that athletes who come forward with information that could undo doping networks should receive more lenient punishment, balancing the benefit of people coming clean with the need to penalize cheaters.

“I believe in severe penalties, possibly even life bans. But you can’t penalize everybody, or no one will come forward,” said LeMond, adding that athletes who cooperate should get a second chance, but under a probationary period.

Andre Waters, a defensive back who spent most of his 12 seasons in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, was found dead in Tampa, Fla., of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 44.

Waters, an assistant football coach at Fort Valley State in Georgia, joined the Eagles out of Cheyney State in 1984 and played with them at cornerback and safety through 1993. He was known as one of the NFL’s hardest hitters and was often fined for some of his tackles. He spent his last two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals.