Swimming: Sweetenham Given Full Backing

Britain's controversial performance director Bill Sweetenham is to continue in his role after receiving the full backing of the governing body's chief executive David Sparkes. The Australian had threatened to resign if British Swimming did not support him over an independent report that cleared him of bullying the sport's top competitors. But, after a meeting yesterday with Sparkes and board member Robert James to review the findings, Sweetenham pledged his future to Britain.

"We've had a very positive meeting today and Bill has confirmed that he is totally committed to leading the British team for Beijing 2008 (for the Olympics)," said Sparkes. "We agreed in hindsight that some of the issues highlighted in the report could have been handled better. But Bill has affected a massive change in our sport and it's inevitable that not everything will run smoothly."

It had been claimed in The Times that Sweetenham had contributed to the retirement of 13 top swimmers. His biggest critics in the British team were Mark Foster, Karen Pickering and Jaime King. "British swimming, team staff and the vast majority of Britain's swimmers remain committed to Bill and are looking forward to more success on the road to Beijing," said Sparkes.

Among Sweetenham's biggest supporters is David Davies, the Olympic 1500 metres bronze medallist in Athens. "Bill has radical ideas and some older members of the team found it difficult to adapt," he said. "The allegations of bullying were blown out of proportion. The younger members enjoyed his ideas."