Ian Thorpe's former coach says she's happy with how the next generation of Olympic swimmers performed under pressure at the Youth Olympics despite not winning any of their races.
Australian swimmers won 10 medals in the pool in Nanjing, China, nine of which were bronze while Sydneysider Ami Matsuo claimed the only silver.
But in a possible sign of things to come, West Australian teen Brianna Throssell, 18, stepped up to the podium six times, finishing in the top three in all but one of her events.
Tracey Menzies, who coached Thorpe between 2002 and 2006 and is now head coach of the Australian youth swim team, said that her charges realised they were in touching distance of some of the best but had more work to do.
"This is a good experience for them - to leave the pool knowing they are in that league and that they are capable of doing the swims that we all know they can do," she said.
Assistant coach Dean Boxall said missing out on gold and dealing with nerves will help junior athletes make the leap to higher levels of competition.
"It's not bad being disappointed because you can use that as hunger and motivation for the next race," he said.
Some of Australia's swimmers seemed to struggle with their nerves going into their their pet events.
Matsuo, 18, finished fifth in her favoured 200m freestyle, while butterfly specialist Nicholas Brown didn't make it to the 200m butterfly final despite winning bronze in the 100m race.
Menzies said feeling the pressure is inevitable in high profile events such as an Olympics.
"I think they were a little bit overwhelmed the first day when they walked in," she said.
"But they have bounced back from that.
"I'm really pleased and really happy with how they've conducted themselves."
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