Swimmer Cameron McEvoy aiming to use champions Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett as mentors as he prepares for Rio Olympics

AUSTRALIA’S rising Rio Olympics star Cameron McEvoy has revealed plans to use former greats Grant Hackett and Ian Thorpe as personal mentors .

Cameron McEvoy is chasing six medals in Rio.

AUSTRALIA’S rising Rio Olympics star Cameron McEvoy has revealed plans to use former greats Grant Hackett and Ian Thorpe as personal mentors as he prepares his own assault at history.

McEvoy described the chance to win six medals in Rio in August as “beautiful”, a feat greater than anything Thorpe achieved in his illustrious swimming careers after he won five medals at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

The 21-year-old aspiring astronaut said his two idols had offered themselves for one-on-one mentoring in the lead up to Rio and given the enormous highs and lows of each of their careers McEvoy is definitely keen to learn from their wisdom.

Cameron McEvoy is chasing six medals in Rio.

“The two of them together have been through worlds of experiences,” McEvoy said.

“Apart from maybe (Michael) Phelps with Beijing I wouldn’t know anyone who had that much pressure on their shoulders than Thorpe had leading into Athens.

“Even if I can get one per cent of what they’ve learnt told to me leading into Rio that will be tremendous help.

“I’ve been training all my life, I know I train hard, I know how to improve in the water, the hardest part is to get everything outside the pool right. That is not something we’re always training towards or trying to perfect and learning from them will help.”

Thorpe delivered an inspiring speech to the entire Australian Olympic swim team at the selection trials earlier this month and although head coach Jacco Verhaeren likes to bring former greats into the fold as much as possible, he confirmed there would be no formal role for any ex-swimmers in the team for Rio.

Hackett had also been mooted as a potential team mentor until his infamous mid-flight meltdown departing the trials in Adelaide where he was accused of harassing a fellow passenger.

McEvoy said Hackett had already given him advice that will resonate strongly with him for the rest of his swimming career.

“The biggest thing I’ve learnt at the moment is that a gold medal at the Olympics doesn’t make you a better man,” McEvoy said.

“I think that’s a really nice perspective to look at a gold medal because looking into Rio you are so blinded by just that gold medal or just a medal or whatever it is you want to achieve you don’t really think about the bigger picture.

“It kind of puts into perspective why you want to get that gold medal but if you don’t it’s not the end of the world, you still have your character, how you hold yourself after the race and what you do in life later on.

“It takes a bit of pressure off … That was from Grant actually and in a long time it’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve heard.”

McEvoy, who will race the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle in Rio plus potentially all three relays, said it was his dream to return from Brazil with six medals to surpass the likes of Thorpe and Shane Gould for Australia’s greatest medal haul at a single Games.

“That would be beautiful, six Olympics medals. For me a perfect Olympics would be three personal best times in the individual events and coming away with medals in as many events as I can,” he said.

“Obviously you’re probably not going to get a perfect Olympics with all the variables that can happen but it’s a possibility.

“It might be a small possibility but it’s still there and something to get excited about and work towards.”

Originally published as Swimmer Cameron McEvoy aiming to use champions Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett as mentors as he prepares for Rio Olympics