Swimmer Ashley Callus, an Australian of Maltese origin, will not be representing Malta at the forthcoming Games for European Small States in Monaco.

Malta Olympic Committee Director of Sport Pippo Psaila confirmed yesterday that the swimmer will not be forming part of the Maltese contingent in Monaco.

Said Psaila: “His coach told us that Ashley would be concentrating mainly on next year’s Olympics in Beijing. The note said the swimmer had not cut a good figure at the recent world championships in Monaco and was disappointed. Yet the coach said Ashley would be doing everything to get back on track and was determined to make it to the Swimming Australia team for next year’s China Olympic Games.”

Psaila added Callus’s coach also said that after next year’s Olympics which will definitely be the swimmer’s last on the Australia team, Ashley would be available to represent Malta in other competitions, not just the Games for European Small States.

Callus has been one of Australia’s top swimmers in the past seven years or so. He was only 21 years old when he was selected to make his debut at the age of 21 at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Swimming with Klim, Fydler and Ian Thorpe, the Australians were not expected to win, as the United States had never lost the event at Olympic level. But they won the gold medal.

At the 2001 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, he was again part of the 4x100m freestyle relay team which won gold ahead of the United States, and was also a finalist in the 100m freestyle. The following year, 2002 saw his finest moment as he won individual gold at the World Short Course Championships in Moscow, Russia in the 100m freestyle.

He had a bad Olympics run in Athens in 2004, when it was revealed he had contracted the Epstein_Barr virus and he took a year off to recover.

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Callus anchored the 4x100m freestyle relay team to silver, and also reached the final of both the 50m and 100m freestyle, although he was considerably outside his best time in both events. He took a new gold for Australia in the World Short Course Championships at 4x100 metres medley relay, in Shanghai, China, in April last year.