alt BRITAIN'S swimmers have come under attack after winning only five medals at the World Championships in Melbourne with Steve Cram (pictured), the chairman of the English Institute of Sport, leading the criticism.

 

"In Melbourne last year at the Commonwealth Games it had looked as though swimming was making a long-awaited breakthrough and that Bill Sweetenham's unpopular methods were beginning to bear fruit," Cram wrote in his weekly column published in The Guardian today. 

 

Cram, the former world record holder for the mile and now also a BBC TV commentator, added: "Back in the swim city a year later and the truth hit them in the goggles as Michael Phelps and others displayed the aquatic equivalent of moving the goal posts.

 

"It seems as though the British swim programme failed to notice that despite its own progression the rest of the world appears to have moved into a faster lane.

 

"Liam Tancock was one bright light and there was encouragement elsewhere including a silver from Cassandra Patten in swimming's equivalent of the marathon.

"The 10km open water event will be held in Beijing for the first time next year but overall Sweetenham admitted some things had taken them by surprise.
 
"The American's dolphin kick turns were a case in point, but with British swimmers training in the States it seems strange that no knowledge of the technique had been passed on.
 
"Other nations also made advances away from the big two with Japan raising its tally across all events to 13 medals.
 
"On the medal table Britain is still trailing the likes of Italy and Germany, who are not exactly renowned for their prowess in the water."
 
Cram's views are echoed by Mark Foster, who in a column published in The Daily Telegraph, wrote:  "Looking at the British performance as a whole, it was no better than average."
 
Foster, Britain's most succcessful ever swimmer with a record 46 medals during his career, added:  "Considering the amount of investment the sport has received in this country over the past seven years, since Bill Sweetenham took over as performance director, we should have seen a huge improvement.
 
"As it is, Zimbabwe, Holland, South Africa and Korea, not renowned swimming nations with none of the resources we have, finished ahead of the GB team in the medal table."
 
But Cram is full of praise for Britain's cyclists and, in particular the performance director David Brailsford.
 
He wrote: "He would be the first to lay all the plaudits at the wheels of the cyclists but it is his leadership and coaching skills which have created the culture and environment in which the whole squad is appearing to prosper.
 
"Their preparation is meticulous and Brailsford admits they have reached a stage where almost all subjectivity has been taken out of selection issues.
 
"By embracing all of the medical and scientific support available to them Brailsford and his team have set new standards in performance analysis for themselves and the rest of the world."
 
Cram concludes by urging British Swimming to look at cycling for inspiration, writing: "All performance directors have a tough job to get their charges to perform at the highest level - just ask Steve McClaren.
 
"But when we have someone who is succeeding so spectacularly within our midst, then surely others can learn from the Brailsford way."