Ian Thorpe nervous but relieved about comeback

IAN Thorpe is making only one promise about his much-anticipated comeback race at the World Cup event in Singapore tomorrow."It won't be extraordinary and it won't be horrible,” he declared after training in the 25m pool at the Singapore Sports School before the eyes of the world's media."It will be something in the middle. I am a guy who hasn't swum for five years and I forget that sometimes and I think other people do too ... this is a starting point.”After announcing his comeback in February, the fives-times Olympic gold medallist had to serve nine months on the anti-doping register before he was permitted to race officially, a period that expired this week.Thorpe is preparing to swim the 100m and 200m freestyle at next year's Olympic trials but has chosen to contest two events which he has never competed in before at senior level, the 100m individual medley and 100m butterfly, in Singapore.He will compete in the medley today, in which he has submitted an entry time of 54.82sec, which will make him the fourth seeded swimmer behind Colombia's Pinzon Omar (53.44sec).Thorpe said swimming unusual events was a deliberate strategy as it would give him race experience without revealing much about his progress in freestyle."I recognise how important it is for me to race but I don't know how important it is for me to race freestyle at the moment,” he said."I think there's still a lot of work I need to do on the freestyle, it's not race-ready yet.”Thorpe said he expected to be unusually nervous when he faces the starter's gun for the first time tomorrow since the 2006 Commonwealth Games trials."I am more nervous than I usually am, but I am excited as well,” he said."I was equally as excited as I was nervous but, as it's drawn a bit closer, I've got a bit more nervous. I'm hoping once I have a few swims, that will dissipate.”After Singapore, Thorpe will continue his comeback tour at the next two rounds of the World Cup in Beijing and Tokyo.He initially planned to do the 100m freestyle in Tokyo but has said more recently that it would depend on his progress in other events.He said his goal for his comeback races was to adjust to racing again, more than to achieve specific results."I have neither a time nor a place (as a goal)," Thorpe said."I'd be lying if I said that 'I think I'll be able to do this or that'. I really don't know.”But he and the rest of the world will find out over the next two days.