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Saturday July 5, 9:36 AM Swimming: Aussies' "best-ever" team for Olympic glory Photo: AFP Click to enlarge SYDNEY (AFP) - Swimming power Australia is gearing to send its most successful team to the Beijing Olympics based on performances and times. Eight world records, six of them in Olympic events, tumbled at the national trials last March giving all indications that the traditional swimming superpower is set to make a big splash in the 'Water Cube' along with the Michael Phelps-fuelled United States. Australia's higher-water mark is eight swimming gold medals at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and its swimmers came close to eclipsing that at the last Athens Games with seven. Australia has won a total of 52 gold in swimming at the Olympics. But optimism is high with active Australians currently holding nine world longcourse records and capturing eight gold medals at last year's world championships in Melbourne. Five-time gold medallist Ian Thorpe may be gone, but Australia is developing another stream of outstanding swimmers led by Libby Trickett, Leisel Jones and the much-improved Eamon Sullivan. "It's good to see those young men and women stepping up to a point that they are now the best we have ever had in Australia," head coach Alan Thompson said. Trickett and Sullivan emerged from the Olympic trials as world swimming's fastest male and female swimmers. They each shattered the 50-metre freestyle world records during the trials, Trickett, formerly Lenton, is also the 100m freestyle record holder, while Jones is the dominant breaststroker in women's swimming. 'Lethal' Leisel holds the world records in the 100m and 200m events and won the double at last year's worlds. Jones missed her world record in the 200m breaststroke by 0.04sec at the Barcelona round of the Mare Nostrum series in June ahead of her specific speed training for the Games. Jones clocked 2:20.58, her fastest time since she set the world record in February, 2006 and almost two seconds ahead of Athens Olympic gold medallist Amanda Beard, who is the second-fastest in history at 2:22.44. Team captain Grant Hackett is bidding for an historic third 1500m gold medal in Beijing after a disastrous world championships last year. The once-unbeatable Hackett was hopelessly out of sorts at the worlds, dethroned in the 1500m freestyle for the first time in more than a decade. He also lost his 400m and 800m freestyle world titles. "It would be great to win a third title. I would love to win it for Australia because we've had such a great representation in this event," Hackett said. Australia's other leading medal contenders are 200m butterflyer Jessicah Schipper, medley swimmer Stephanie Rice and backstroker Sophie Edington. Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates is confident Australia will come away with 18 swim medals. Australia claimed 15 medals in Athens. "We've shown the performances of our sports last year and it calculated around 45 (medals) and they were predicated with the case of swimming on 18," Coates said. "Nothing since then has concerned me about not getting those numbers." One swimmer who will not be competing is national butterfly champion Nick D'Arcy who was sacked from the team after a Sydney bar incident left former swimmer Simon Cowley with serious injuries including a broken jaw. D'Arcy appealed the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport but failed to have it overturned.