Head coach Leigh Nugent has defended Swimming Australia's financial support for comeback stars including Ian Thorpe, saying it would take an "ungrateful Australian" not to give it.
Mr Nugent was responding to a report suggesting some Australian swimmers were unhappy over the money SA was spending to help fund the comebacks of the likes of veterans Thorpe, Libby Trickett and Michael Klim.
The big name trio will attempt to qualify for Australia's London Olympic team at the national titles in Adelaide starting on Thursday.
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Mr Nugent denied any favouritism for the comeback swimmers, saying "50 or 60" other athletes were in the same category, and questioned why any other swimmers would by angered by SA supporting their comebacks.
Mr Nugent stressed they had not been paid by SA to swim and had only received financial support for their training programs and preparations.
"I really can't understand why they would (be upset)," Mr Nugent said.
"These guys are multiple gold medallists of recent times, multiple world record holders.
"They're going to contribute, if they make it, to the performance of our team and maybe help some of the other members on the team with relay medals, bring experience to the team, stability to the team with that experience.
"So I can only see positives in this and I think it would be a pretty ungrateful person and a pretty ungrateful Australian to not assist our proven best performers."
Mr Nugent would not comment on the specifics of money spent on the comebacks but defended the fact Thorpe had spent most of his time overseas preparing for his comeback rather than training in Australia at a lesser cost.
"We have many people training overseas - training camps and so on," Mr Nugent said.
"Each program's different. For Ian, specifically training in Europe has opened some doors to have a European training base, which has been good for us.
"(Thorpe's coach) Gennadi Touretski has been available to work with our coaches when he came out to Australia and when they go to Europe.
"And I think it's been a great move and for Ian specifically. In Australia it's awfully difficult for him with all the attention he gets. He just doesn't get left alone."
Mr Nugent said Thorpe's taper had been going well but was still unsure how the five-time Olympic gold medallist would perform when he took to the pool in Friday's 200m freestyle heats.
Meanwhile, Nugent also confirmed many of his swimmers would opt to not use the new Speedo Fastskin 3 suits at trials due to some teething difficulties with fitting and use.
"The difficulty is they've come on (to the market) without too much time to experiment with these suits under pressure racing conditions," Mr Nugent said.
"I would say most people at trials are going to stick with what they are comfortable with and familiar with. Beyond trials, that might change."
