Coutts Ready to Retire After Rio

Alicia Coutts has gone on record stating that the 2016 Olympics in Rio will be her last hurrah. In an interview with ESPN before last weekend’s New South Wales State Championships Coutts said, “Whatever happens, I am definitely done after Rio.”

“I am excited about what happens after swimming.”

In the last four years Coutts has accomplished a lot. She came away from London with five medals (one gold, three silver and one bronze), collected five silver medals at the 2013 World Championships, won three gold and one silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and stood atop of the podium twice at the Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast.

But 2015 was a year of highs and lows for the Australian superstar. The high point came in September when she married long time boyfriend Steve Hardy. The lowlight was in April when she missed the 2015 World Championship team.

Coutts suffered a torn labrum in September of 2014, an injury which required surgery. She came into the trials with a compromised preparation period. Although she finished sixth in the 100 freestyle Australian Swimming decided to put Madi Wilson on the 4 x 100 freestyle relay ahead of Coutts (Wilson swam a faster time in the semi-final of the event before scratching the final and had already been selected to the team in the 100 backstroke).

“The shoulder injury was really hampering everything, it was hard to overcome and planning a wedding was quite stressful,” Coutts told ESPN.

“To be honest I was very close (to retirement).”

“There were a few times I told my coach ‘I don’t really know if I have the motivation to swim for another year’.”

“I said ‘I think I am going to retire right now’.”

Coutts’ coach John Fowlie, who she has worked with for the past nine years, convinced her to continue on towards Rio, “He sat me down and told me it was okay not to be motivated.”

“He was great. He kept me in the water.”

Last weekend at the New South Wales State Championships, which was the final competitive challenge for many of the country’s top swimmers, Coutts had some impressive performances. She won the women’s 200 IM in a time of 2:09.99 beating World Championship silver medalist Kanako Watanabe by almost two seconds. Her time also put her second in the world rankings.

She also finished third in both the 50 and 100 butterfly. Posting a time in the 100 meter distance that ranks fourth in the world.

Coutts told Nicole Jeffrey of the The Australian that she was extremely happy with what she was able to do at the competition, “It’s taken a lot of hard work to get here,’’ Coutts said.

“I’ve been training really hard, to the point where I’ve cried in the pool because I’m giving it everything. I had a cry on Tuesday morning after my main set.”

“It’s been a really really big few months but that’s what I needed to do and I’m really happy that I’ve put myself in this position.’’