The mother of Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe has defended her son against reports he is overweight and lacking motivation to train since moving to Los Angeles.

A Sydney newspaper published a front-page photograph of the Olympic champion slurping on a soft drink under the banner headline "the good life catches up with Thorpedo."

The accompanying report claimed Thorpe had lost his will to compete at the highest level and was spending more time in the company of Hollywood actors than churning through the pool at training.

"Is this the beginning of the end of Thorpe's magnificent swimming career?" the report asked.

But Thorpe's mother Margaret hit back, saying her son was preparing for next year's World Champion-ships in Melbourne and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"I'm a little amazed by what's being said," she said.

"Ian has told me he is training and he is very happy over there and that's what I'm going to believe."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.