Australian top swimmer Ashley Callus, may be swimming for Malta in the forthcoming Games for European Small States next June in Monaco.

The Director of Sport of the Maltese Olympic Committee, Pippo Psaila, yesterday told the press that a non-resident Maltese athlete who had won gold in the Sydney Olympic Games, was now eligible to represent Malta at the forthcoming Games.

PSaila did not mention names, but Callus, of Maltese origin, was a gold medal winner at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000.

Callus, who will be 28 next Saturday, is thought to be considering the offer of the MOC and is expected to provide the locals with a reply in the next few days.

If he accepts the Maltese proposal – he is now eligible to swim for Malta in these Games because of the new citizenship laws – his presence in Monaco will give an added dimension to these Games, as was cyclist David Millar’s presence at the San Marino Games in 2001. Millar had also represented Malta at those Games.

Callus was born on 10 March 1979 and is a sprint freestyle swimmer. He had won the gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay forming part of the Australian team which also included, Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Chris Fydler.

Callus had also formed part of the Australian team that won the gold medal at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in the same event. In 2002, he won individual gold at the world short course championships in Moscow, winning the 100m freestyle.

Last year, after one year in the wilderness due to an illness – it was known he had contracted the Epstein Barr virus just before the Athens Olympics in 2004 – he came back strongly to anchor the 4x100m freestyle relay team to a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and then he took gold again for Australia in the world short course championships in the 4x100 medley relay in Shanghai, China.