Champion swimmer Ian Thorpe is about to start training in earnest for the Olympics.

Thorpe said on Wednesday he was happy with his performance at the world championships in Barcelona last month, where he won three golds, a silver and a bronze, to take his world title tally to 11.

"I'm pretty pleased now having a chance to really reflect on what I was able to do there and I'm pretty pleased with how I'm going," the 20-year-old said.

"Now I'm looking forward to the Olympics."

Thorpe said he was refreshed after a couple of weeks' break and was looking forward to hitting the pool.

Asked when his Olympics training would begin, he replied: "Tomorrow, it's as simple as that.

"I arrived back from Europe yesterday so I had a day to recover.

"I actually went for a run this morning so that I could get back in the swing of things a little bit earlier but I'm looking forward to hitting the water again.

" ... I'm looking forward to being able to train hard and all of those early mornings and all those hours in the build-up."

Thorpe said American swimming prodigy Michael Phelps was one of a number of impressive performers at the world championships and he predicted great things for him.

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