Sink or swim

British swimming will face some tough questions after a disappointing performance at London 2012.

UK Sport set a target of five to seven medals for London but with only three secured, swimming could see their funding cut - which could mean performance levels will sink even further by the time Rio 2016 comes around.

The question should not be why Team GB did not win the medals that were expected, but rather why they did not perform to their potential.

The signs were good - Team GB won six medals at last year's World Champs and with the home advantage it should have been a glorious week in the pool.

However only three of the 44 swimmers achieved a personal best with the vast majority swimming slower at the Olympic Games than they did at the Olympic Trials four months earlier.

"The answer may only come out in the wash when the head coach and national performance director review the final preparation phase," said Nick Gillingham.

"The mark of great champions is consistency. Adhering to routines can help with this. Why did the vast majority of the 44 swimmers swim faster at the Olympic Trials? If I were to make a judgment call then I feel the swimmers tried too hard and forced performances. Forcing success in a drive to reach your goals is not the route to personal glory.

"This may sound ridiculous but elite performances, in a major arena, and no more so than in the Olympic arena, rely on an unprecedented and unlimited level of relaxation and tension where performances just happen naturally and automatically," added the double Olympic medalist.

"Unforced performances see dreams come true and often at the disbelief of the Olympian. Team GB swimmers failed on their medal count, so what went wrong in the water? Was the scary 'wow factor' of Olympic competition too much?

"I feel for Team GB swimmers but did they try too hard? If so, why did this happen given the level of psychological support available? We have seen it many times where there is a delayed emotional reaction on the faces of champions before Olympic gold becomes a reality. Is this delay in actual fact coming back from a meditative state of mind? Are we talking about something much deeper than focus?

"I feel it may very well be the case given that determination, motivation and focus is what all Olympians have. Perhaps this inherited state of mind should be referred to as the talent that separates the 'greatest of the great' when physical talent can only get you so far to ultimate glory."

Tough enough?

Cassie Patten, who won a bronze medal in Beijing in the 10km open water marathon, agrees that the occasion may have been too much for some of the swimmers, but also believes they need to get tougher in the pool.

"Our swimmers have known since March that they were going to the Olympics and that is all they were training for," explained Patten.

"I think only a handful of swimmers had to prepare for the second qualifying round. I really don't know why they did not get the times they wanted. Perhaps they were just overwhelmed by the occasion - for 24 members of that team it was their first Olympics,"

"It is a very daunting prospect to not only come out in your first Olympics but have such a huge crowd chanting your name - the meets they usually go to may have two thousand people max.

"If I remember back to my first Olympics I performed well because I did not think about it, however I didn't have 17,000 people shouting my name.

"So I really think that some of them were not prepared for the amount of support they got - that is in no way a criticism for the fantastic support that they received.

"However when I look at teams like America, they race hard. They race back-to-back. They are used to doing race after race whilst in England we don't do that. I think our swimmers are a little bit reluctant or out of practice to get up and do that. You see the likes of Missy Franklin, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps getting up night after night and performing.

"Franklin won the 200m backstroke final just 14 minutes after she swam in the 200m freestyle - that is racing tough and I don't think Great Britain have that mental strength at the moment.

"Swimming is a very tough sport and you do have to get up and perform and perform and perform."

Straight talking

The swimmers' reaction to not quite performing has also been puzzling with the majority of them coming out with emotionless media-speak that has disappointed the public.

"We live in a commercial world and I understand how important it is to promote a sport we all love with a desire to promote ourselves in a positive light," explained Gillingham

"However, what has happened due to engineered training is a sugar-coating of performances, as the Australians call it, where the public can see through the smile. What we really want is an honest and open view of both success and failure where it is evident and in front of you. We only have to look at the devastation and shock on the faces of cyclists and rowers when dreams were lost.

"Media training has been delivered over the years and the moulded interview style is all too similar across the team of individuals. Emotion comes last and a stream of engineered thanks and mentions of proudness and happiness comes first when in actual fact medals have been lost and performances way off the personal bests."

The future

Cuts or not cuts, there will definitely be changes at British swimming. Head coach Dennis Pursley will be returning to America after just four years and the pressure is on performance director Michael Scott to create a new coaching structure similar to what Dave Brailsford has done with the cycling team. Patten believes that the team need more consistency and thinks the next few years will be crucial to develop not only the younger swimmers, but the coaching set-up too

"In Beijing as a team we performed really well and because of that we got the money to build on that," said Patten.

"We also had a new coach in Dennis Pursley who is now leaving. To create a successful swim programme takes years but he was only here for four years.

"People give Bill Sweetenham a bad rap but Bill Sweetenham turned British swimming around in eight years.

"He did toughen people up and we don't want to slip back into being a soft nation. We have to learn to race hard if we want to win medals - that is racing hard in the heats and the semi-finals and the finals.

"A lot of our swimmers may retire - after the Olympics is quite a transitional period. A whole section of experienced swimmers will say farewell and that leaves a huge void that the younger swimmers need to fill.

"So it is going to be interesting watching those young swimmers who did not quite perform to see if they step up, learn from this and want to make amends and be hungry for medals and performances."