OP-ED: Britain enjoy their pool party but the hard work is still to be done

THERE'S an old story - maybe apocryphal - about an Irish journalist reporting on the exploits of his nations' swimmers at the Olympic Games.

"Great news from our team at the pool yesterday," he wrote. "No-one drowned."

HIGHLIGHT: Gemma Spofforth's 100m backstroke gold was my British highlight of the World Championships in Rome

I borrowed this classic line when asked by my then editor to write a post-mortem of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, where Great Britain had failed to muster a single medal.

Indeed the only headlines the swim team made was when Jonathan Edwards accused them of partying too hard. Some of those guys had spirit, unfortunately it was often in a bottle.

But things have certainly changed.

British Swimming's performance director Michael Scott stopped short of declaring mission accomplished but you could afford him a small smile of satisfaction or glass of something chilled as he held court at Foro Italico tonight.

He'd targeted seven medals in his pre-championship prediction and that is what he got, Britain's best return since winning eight in 2003.

But the medal table doesn't tell the full story.

In total, the 41-strong team set three world records, four European records, ten Commonwealth records, 44 British records and 73 personal bests.

Only the late great Fluff Freeman had a bigger record collection.

However, British team officials - led by Scott and head coach Dennis Pursley - have refused to talk about times in these suit-enhanced championships, preferring to focus on placings - including five fourths.

Earlier this year I wrote about the dominance of Britain's women swimmers, after a British Gas national championships that saw Girl Power rule in the pool.

FOR THE BOYS: Liam Tancock was the only British man to win a medal in Rome - a 50m backstroke gold (Getty Images)

The theme has continued this week.

Britain had five male finalists - David Davies, James Goddard, Thomas Haffield, Michael Rock and Liam Tancock - who reached eight finals between them.

In comparison six British women reached 13 finals - shared between Rebecca Adlington, Fran Halsall, Jo Jackson, Hannah Miley, Lizzie Simmonds and Gemma Spofforth.

But a reality check is also required.

World Championships preceding an Olympics rarely give an accurate picture as to what will happen three years on.

Indeed, British world champions have an unenviable record of failing to produce in the Olympic pool.

The only British swimmer to be crowned a world and Olympic champion is David Wilkie, who won two golds in 1975 and then famously triumphed in Montreal one year later.

Katy Sexton and James Gibson - our last world champions in 2003 before Spofforth's 100m backstroke victory - couldn't even get on the podium in Athens.

Two years ago in Melbourne, Britain won two silver and three bronze medals but only Cassie Patten medaled in the same event in Beijing, although Davies did win an open water silver.

But, after all that paralysis by analysis, a general feeling of positivity far outweighs the negatives.

Rebecca Adlington's disappointments - double bronze doesn't have quite the same luster as double gold - have been well-chronicled.

However, Ellen Gandy, the 17-year old who shot to prominence when she set the 200m butterfly European record at the trials in March, also had a week to forget.

She arrived ranked first in the world for the 200m and fourth for the 100m but didn't reach a single final.

However, her time will come and she should take heart from Adlington's failure in Melbourne and success in Beijing one year later.

Gandy's fellow butterfly specialist, Jemma Lowe, who impressed at last year's Olympics, is also clearly in transition having shifted her training to the USA, where she's attending the University of Florida with British team-mate Spofforth.  

Like Gandy she remains one to watch.

SENSATIONAL: Almost as good as watching Usain Bolt's win at last year's Olympics, Michael Phelps 100m butterfly was one of those sporting moments it was just a privilege to witness. Roll on London 2012 and more of the same (Getty Images)

But a nasty odour has hung over the pool all week and it wasn't the all-pervading stench of chlorine or the whiff of Ambre Solaire on the gentle Roman breeze.

Swimming's world governing body, Fina, has done Rome no favours with their incompetent handling of the swimsuit controversy, which has seen the sport's world record book consigned to the dustbin of history.

Every time a world best was posted the public announcer gave a blast of Queen's 'Who Wants to Live Forever'.

It seemed some nights that he'd got the track stuck on repeat. And the records often didn't last five minutes, let alone forever.

In total 41 world records were set here, in itself another record. I started the week determined to keep tally - and gave up on the second night.

Rome last staged the World Championship in 1994 when the Chinese team, juiced up on more than ginseng tea, overshadowed their event.

This time around, it's not the athletes but the governing body that have brought the sport into disrepute.

But Rome deserves nothing but credit for their organisation.

This was the first time four of the five Fina sports had been staged in one venue, creating a village atmosphere lacking in previous editions of this championship.

We're going to miss our mornings in the blaring Italian sunshine, topping up the tan while we tapped away on red-hot keyboards.

And this, sadly, will be the last World Championship staged outdoors.

REM once sang that ‘night swimming deserves a quiet night' - they've obviously never been the jumping Foro Italico when Federica Pellegrini was flashing her winning smile.

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