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Olympic champion Cielo to return to pool

Xinhua, February 5, 2017 Adjust font size:

Olympic champion Cesar Cielo will return to competitive swimming as he targets a fourth 50m freestyle world title, his coach said on Saturday.

Cielo, who won gold in the 50m freestyle at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, announced an indefinite break from competition after failing to qualify for last year's Rio Olympics.

But the Brazilian's hunger for the sport has returned, according to coach Alberto Silva, who has agreed to reunite with the 30-year-old after the pair split in 2013.

Silva said Cielo would compete at the Brazilian championships in May with an eye on the world championships in Budapest in July.

"Our objective is the [Brazilian championships] but it's impossible not to think about the worlds," Silva told Brazil's Uol news outlet. "An athlete of his level, who has achieved so much, will always set his sights high. He is not coming back just for the sake of it."

Cielo, whose 2009 world records in the 50m and 100m freestyle still stand today, won the 50m freestyle world title in 2009, 2011 and 2013. Endit