KEY POINTS:
Even a swimmer with the hunger for his sport of Grant Hackett needs success to sustain him.
Australian swimming's master of pain management plans to continue after the 2008 Beijing Olympics only if he still rules the pool.
If not, Australia's greatest distance swimmer might just hang up his goggles.
Hackett has overcome so many obstacles during his celebrated career, both physically and mentally, that it is sometimes difficult to remember he is human and fallible, not just a lap machine.
He has displayed his remarkable resilience at this week's world championships trials in Brisbane by fighting off Craig Stevens to win the 400m and 800m despite feeling flat.
But even he has his limits and only gold medals will keep him in the water beyond Beijing.
"I think I would have to be successful in Beijing to probably keep on swimming," says Hackett.
"If I swam at my absolute best in Beijing I couldn't see myself retiring.
"I think that was silly if I was able to swim personal best times and then just give away the sport.
"I certainly think if I ... won gold in Beijing I would persist with the sport, as long as I was motivated with it of course.
"The following year in Rome is the world championships and I like the thought of that."
Every athlete in an individual sport wants to feel they are progressing in some form or another.
Even when they have plateaued, they must be able to convince themselves their best days are not gone and they're not in decline.
That is why Hackett's 1500m freestyle world record of 14 minutes 34.56 seconds set in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2001 is a huge source of frustration for the endurance maestro.
It is more than five years since that remarkable performance and Hackett, a student of the sport, knows his signature event has been a young man's race.
Few swimmers have made an impact in the 30-lap event in their late 20s with the exception of Russian great Vladimir Salnikov.
That is exactly why Hackett reacted so strongly after breaking the 800m world record in Montreal last year.
Sure it was Ian Thorpe's mark but more importantly it convinced him his best was still to come.
The 26-year-old has often spoken of becoming the first man to break the 14min 30secs barrier in the 1500m but the most minimal improvement will satisfy him nowadays.
"I haven't really limited myself by a number," he said. "I just know that I want to improve on my 14:34.
"I find it frustrating that I haven't yet. There have been stages of my career where I have been swimming faster than that.
"I definitely don't want to finish my career on 14 minutes 34. I want to swim faster than that."
Hackett is gunning to be the first male swimmer to win the same event at three straight Olympics but he understands there are few fairytales in sport.
Thorpe's premature exit has only reminded him that few careers follow the feel-good script of a movie.
"You always want to go out on a high, but it doesn't necessarily work like that," he said.
"A lot of athletes like to go out on top and I certainly want to. Every time I jump in the water to train, I make sure I give it 100 per cent and get the absolute best out of myself.
"I wouldn't want to get up on the blocks and finish sixth or seventh after having so many good results throughout my career."
The Gold Coast swimmer has had many hardships during his career. This is the man who defied illness to win both of his 1500m Olympic titles in Sydney and Athens.
Undergoing shoulder surgery last year was the latest in the many tests thrown his way.
"When you come back from injury, you don't start on the same rung of the ladder as when you left off and you really do need to claw your way up each one," he said.
"That is a challenge in itself and I know a lot of swimmers in the past who came off injury and illness who have found ... it very, very hard to get back.
"But for me I am actually finding it a challenge right now and I am willing to take it on.
"I am looking forward to the challenge of my competitors and being in Melbourne on my home turf. I guess there is a lot of pride that goes with that, especially in front of your home crowd, you want to produce good results."
Craig Stevens' re-emergence in the distance events has heartened Hackett, who has long been a one-man show on the national level in the 800m and 1500m since Kieren Perkins' retirement.
"It's great to see that he stuck at it and he's persisted with it," Hackett said. "It would be great to see him up on the medal dais. I don't want to get ahead of anything ... but he is certainly putting himself in with a chance."
- AAP
