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French swimmer Agnel not to defend world title due to illness

Xinhua, June 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

Olympic and world 200 meters freestyle champion Yannick Agnel announced Monday to end his season after suffering from pleurisy, dropping off the chance to defend his title in the world championships in early August.

The 23-year-old Frenchman, who beat China's Sun Yang and Park Tae Hwan of South Korea to win the 200m freestyle in London Games, preferred to skip the world championships on Aug. 2-9 in Kazan, Russia, to focus on his recovery for the Olympic season.

"The Olympics are still my priority and I want to put all my chances for success in Rio," said Agnel, also a member of the French team having won 4x100m freestyle relay in the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 worlds in Barcelona.

"I know that it's better to play safe since I had pleurisy in 2011. I'd prefer to fully recover first, rather than spending considerable energy to prepare the world championships in conditions that are far from ideal," he added.

Agnel has spent more than one year in the United States to train under Michael Phelps' mentor Bob Bowman in preparation for August's worlds.

"Thank you all for your support; everything is for the better. See you in Rio 2016!" he tweeted Monday afternoon.

The Frenchman had posted the best time of the year at the 200m freestyle event in the national championships in Limoges two months ago, though his personal life had gone through tough time as his close friend and longtime training partner Camille Muffat, the women's 400m freestyle Olympic champion, died in a helicopter crash in Argentina in March. Endi