DURING what he described as the “worst six months of my life”, Bill Sweetenham, who was cleared by an inquiry in January of allegations of bullying, had “never doubted that what we were doing and the plan we’ve put in place wouldn’t produce results”.

Speaking with a “neutral” Great Britain hat on, the performance director said that there was “a new culture, a new attitude of confidence and belief” at the heart of the success story in the pool in Melbourne. “We have a great team of swimmers and coaches, a team that binds together and works as a unit,” he said. “It augurs well for putting the Britain team together after this for the European long-course championships.”

Those take place in Budapest in July and will be tougher than the Commonwealth Games. There is no room to rest on laurels. “One of the changes we’ve made is that when we have a meet like this, it’s another day in the office. You have to get back on the horse tomorrow, look at the next step,” Sweetenham said. It would take two years to reap big rewards and he said that several swimmers would be “in the zone” to be medal contenders in Beijing in 2008.

British swimmers were “reaping the fruits of a strategy and long-term plan”, the director said. Centres of excellence and the offshore unit on the Gold Coast in Australia had produced more than half of all the medals won by the home nations in Melbourne.

While he had not expected to endure what he has over the past 18 months, Sweetenham said: “You have to have the courage of your convictions. You have to be prepared to stand in adversity.” He did not feel a need to silence his critics. The results would do that.

Not entirely, it would seem. One of his chief critics, Mark Foster, had a lot to say yesterday for someone who finished a disappointing fourth over 50 metres freestyle. He would withdraw none of his criticism.

The England team had performed well because Sweetenham had had nothing to do with the seniors in Melbourne, he said. One experienced senior did not want to get drawn into “old arguments” but said: “We’ve stood together for six days as the most united team in the pool, with Bill right there by our side — and we’re very happy to have him there.”