SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian Olympic swimmer Grant Hackett Wednesday said he was fed up with speculation over his weight, declaring himself in peak condition ahead of the Beijing Games.
The two-time Olympic 1500m champion arrived back in Australia bemused at the fuss over an unflattering photograph of him emerging from the water in Seville, Spain, after a 10km qualification race.
The picture showed Hackett with a solid belly bulging over the top of his skin-tight swimming costume, prompting Sydney's Daily Telegraph to run the headline: "Has Hackett got the guts to race in Beijing."
"Do I look like I'm really that overweight? I don't think I am," Hackett asked after a training session in Melbourne, appearing before the media in his swimming trunks to show his svelte physique.
The 27-year-old, who stands 198 centimetres tall (six foot five inches) and weighs 98 kilograms (15.4 stone), according to the Australian Olympic Committee website, said he was "in the best condition of my career."
Hackett said he was hurting enough at his performance in the Seville qualifier -- where he finished 15th and was disqualified for obstructing an opponent -- without the added gossip over his weight.
"I've already got a disappointing result to deal with, rather than having people have a personal attack at you as well," he said.
"But I've just got to laugh it off, I can't look at it any other way because I'm not overweight in any sense of the word."
Hackett could see the funny side though, joking that he had been trying to qualify for reality television weight-loss show "The Biggest Loser."
He said his bulging belly in Spain was because he loaded up on 3.5 kilograms (7.7 pound) of food and liquid before the race to ensure he had the energy to last the distance.
The photograph also caught him breathing out and bending over, with Hackett admitting the look was not enhanced by his figure-hugging costume.
"In those sort of circumstances it is just an absolutely unflattering shot," he said.
Hackett's failure to qualify for the inaugural Olympic 10km event leaves him free to concentrate on his 1500m and 400m races, and he said the public could judge his physique for themselves when they saw him competing in the pool.
