Kitajima comes back like Beckham

Japan's Kosuke Kitajima has followed David Beckham's fitness formula by spending hours in an oxygen chamber to prepare for the world swimming championships.

The 24-year-old has also endured weeks of high-altitude training in Arizona in a bid to rediscover the form that won him two gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Kitajima destroyed American rival Brendan Hansen to win the 100 and 200 metres breaststroke double, celebrating his 200m gold in decidedly un-Japanese fashion by yelling: "I kicked his butt!"

However, Kitajima suffered an Athens hangover, a mystifying slump in form and a niggling elbow injury plunging his future into serious doubt. He has carefully avoided fanning the embers of his rivalry with double world record holder Hansen this time round.

"It's going to be a special sort of championships," said Kitajima. "I'm hoping to take the confidence I have now all the way into the Beijing Olympics. Hansen is really way ahead of me. It's all about Beijing for me."