British team urged to do talking in the pool

Britain's swimming chief says he is flattered top coaches and swimmers are tipping his team to win medals but insists it will take more than positive talk to end their dismal recent Olympic record.

Performance director Michael Scott said that after a succession of dismal performances by strong British teams, talk of his swimmers' medals chances meant nothing.

"We have to do our talking in the pool," Scott told Reuters yesterday.

"It's good people have recognised the steps made by Britain's swimmers but we just haven't yet converted it."

The British team, which has not won an Olympic swimming gold in 20 years, has come under fire from the media after a string of disappointments which have followed huge increases in funding.

After winning silver and bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Games Games, Britain failed to deliver a single medal at the 2000 Olympics, despite sending a team of almost 50 swimmers.

Four years later in Athens, a team packed with podium contenders caved in under the weight of expectation and emerged with only two bronzes.

The main British hopes rest with long distance freestyle specialist David Davies, bronze medallist in Athens, and world short-course champions Rebecca Adlington and Liam Tancock.