Laure Manaudou Returns to Pool to Train for 2011 World Championships

PARIS, France, September 30. THERE must be something motivational about giving birth, and wanting to return to world-class swimming. On the heels of Dara Torres and Amanda Beard, previous new moms who returned to the sport, former Swimming World World Swimmer of the Year Laure Manaudou has announced that she's coming out of retirement according to the Associated Foreign Press.

Manaudou, who gave birth to a girl in April, has been training with coach Romain Barnier since the beginning of the week. Manaudou's goal looks to be the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai.

Manaudou had retired with an Olympic medal of each color from the 2004 Athens Olympics and a trio of world titles to her name. She'll be looking to add to that tally next summer.

On Oct. 14, however, Manaudou will be returning to the United States with the father of her child, Fred Bousquet, to continue training while Bousquet works with Brett Hawke at Auburn University.

Manaudou is the second high profile female swimmer to come out of retirement this month as Libby Trickett announced her return at the beginning of the month.

In an ironic sidenote, one of the biggest April Fool's Day jokes in recent history among the swimming blogosphere occurred several years ago when CollegeSwimming.com joked that Manaudou was touring NCAA teams to find a place to train – the ultimate destination? Auburn.

Full text of Associate Foreign Press article.

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