Ian Thorpe talks up tilt at qualifying for 2016 Olympics in Rio Ian Thorpe says he's not ready to close the book on his Olympic career and hasn't ruled out a tilt at the 2016 Games in Rio. Ian Thorpe won't rule out another crack at the Olympics. IAN Thorpe says he is still not ready to close the book on his Olympic career and has not ruled out a tilt at the 2016 Games in Rio despite turning 30 last October. Appearing yesterday at a charity benefit in Sydney after flying in from his training base in Europe on Monday night, a fit looking Thorpe - who is back in regular training in Switzerland under acclaimed Russian coach Gennardi Touretski - admitted he may yet still have another Games up his sleeve despite missing out on an Australian team berth for last year's London Olympics. Should he continue on for what would be his third Games, Thorpe will be 33 years of age - the same age that famed Russian great Alexander Popov was when he contested his last Olympics in Athens. Interestingly, it was Touretski who coached Popov to Athens qualification, proving the renegade Russian mentor knows a thing or two about training veteran swimmers. "I am pretty old," Thorpe joked yesterday after speaking at a fundraiser benefiting Lifeline. But to be honest, I haven't made a decision about another (Olympics). In saying that, as you get older it does get harder but you can look at guys like Popov and others who have proven you can keep swimming and competing into your thirties. It's not something I have made a decision on but at the moment I'm back in training so we'll see what happens. Thorpe may or may not draw some confidence from comebacks of swimming's past - Popov was able to qualify for Athens at 33 but he ultimately failed to medal. American sprint star Gary Hall Jr, who won gold in the 50m freestyle in Athens at age 30, attempted to qualify for Beijing four years later but missed out. But American Dara Torres, who narrowly missed a berth on the 2012 Olympics swim team at age 45, still managed to win a silver medal in Beijing when she was 41 years of age. And Thorpe, who failed in his bid to qualify for London after what was a relatively short 18-month preparation period, is already back in the pool and experimenting with new training techniques under Touretski, with whom he shares a strong relationship. "My coach is, how do you say, eccentric," Thorpe told the crowd at yesterday's fundraiser. (But) I actually get along really well. Which says a lot about me. Thorpe also revealed a new training apparatus Touretski had recently sourced from an unlikely location - Ikea. He ended up finding these things kids put in their rooms that they put their socks and underwear in and you tip them out and wash them. Anyway, he decided to put that on a chord and I swim with it and what it actually is, is this huge net that catches all of the water so you can't actually swim - it's n anchor that doesn't sink and that holds you there. It's like an entire football team holding on to your legs. So hopefully this works. And it should because it is hard.