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Thorpe and Phelps, who have 19 Olympic gold medals between them, last raced in 2004 in what was described as "the race of the century", the 200m freestyle final in Athens, won by the Australian.
Despite Thorpe's return to the sport this year, his plan to focus on the 100m freestyle could prevent the sport's two biggest names from racing each other at next year's London Olympics. Phelps's coach, Bob Bowman, revealed yesterday that the 100m freestyle was off the American superstar's agenda for the London Olympics because it clashed with his signature event, the 200m butterfly.
So unless Thorpe has a change of heart and returns to the 200m freestyle, potential Olympic contests between the two would be restricted to relays, where they might not race each other directly.However, Bowman confirmed that the Phelps camp was interested in doing a warm-weather training camp in Australia in January to get away from the Baltimore winter in the lead-up to the London Olympics, and they were intrigued by the possibility of racing Thorpe in the historic North Sydney pool as part of the Summer Series event.
"I think it would be so much fun. I hope they do it," said Bowman, who has guided Phelps throughout his career. "We haven't committed to anything yet (and neither has Thorpe) but it fits perfectly into our schedule. I want to do a camp somewhere warm at that time of year and it would be good for Michael to swim in Australia one more time before he finishes (at the London Olympics) because it's such an important swimming country. "I think Michael's thrilled that Ian is back because he views it as a chance to really put more of a spotlight on swimming.
"One of his big goals is to lift the profile of the sport and having Ian back can only help that."An Olympic showdown between the two great champions would become an instant blockbuster. But Bowman said Phelps would not compromise his chances of winning a third consecutive 200m butterfly title to chase the 100m freestyle.
However, he does not rule out Thorpe returning to the 200m freestyle and believes the Australian is perfectly situated, training with coach Gennadi Touretski in Switzerland.
"I don't see how Ian could do better," Bowman said. "I think that Gennadi's style will be good for him. "He's very creative and Ian will really like the thought process that he puts into the training."Touretski is renowned as one of the sport's foremost thinkers and Bowman confesses he has taken an idea or two from the Russian master.
Phelps has had a well-documented struggle with motivation since his eight-gold triumph in Beijing, but Bowman said the approach of next year's Olympics had shaken him out of his lethargy and he was now "progressing nicely" on the road to the world titles in Shanghai in July.