Britain's swimmers will head into the Beijing Olympic Games without a performance director at the helm but the Australian consultant brought in after Bill Sweetenham's early departure has insisted that the national programme is in the capable hands of British coaches who are keeping the revolution in the sport alive.

One of the first acts of Michael Scott - a former swimmer and coach who became a leading light at the NSW Institute for Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport for 10 years - on his arrival as performance consultant two months ago was to draw up his own list of four candidates to replace Sweetenham. All are of similar standing and reputation in terms of world-class coaching and none will be available until after the 2008 Olympic Games.

British Swimming started its search for Sweetenham's replacement as far back as December 2006, when the Australian let it be known in a letter to the federation that he wished to be released early from his contract. Scott has sharpened the focus of the search by writing down the names of the four men he believes would best serve Britain's interests not only in preparation for a home Olympic Games in 2012 but to carry out a longer-term performance blueprint that the new consultant has handed into the Board for approval. It may well be that those names were already on the list given to Kelvin Juba, the consultant sent out by British Swimming to undertake a tricky job as enjoy and recruit.

Part of Scott's blueprint, he said, has already been given 'the green light': January 31 next year will mark the start of a bidding process for several 'Intensive Training Centres' to be established across Britain no later than November 2008. Each will be set up as one-stop shops where, as is the case at the AIS, 'you can walk five minutes in any direction and everything is there, from classes, to pool, to physio, to doctor, to weights room and so on,' said Scott. Delivery of such centres will be part of Sweetenham's legacy, the Australian coach having long ago called for what he called coach-education centres, facilities that would have served the same purpose as those proposed by Scott.

Contrary to speculation, he said, the new centres will be largely staffed by British coaches who are 'doing a fabulous job and have been extremely undervalued'. Bringing in a 'plane load of overseas coaches is not in Britain's long-term interests - and that is why I'm here - to deliver sustainable, long-term success by creating the environment conducive to high performance for coaches and swimmers.' Scott said with a hint of amusement in his voice that 'several of my compatriots have exploited the situation to get better deals back home', without ever having had any intention of actually boarding a plane to Britain.

Central to Scott's plan is a change in the infrastructure of elite swimming in Britain that Sweetenham had called for. British Swimming funds will be offered to bodies such as local authorities, universities and institutes of sport, to share costs in a joint contract in which the federation would 'own its assets'. Pool space, time allocated to elite sport, the conditions in which elite training can take place are all issues that the sport will dictate under the contracts.

The centres will not, Scott insisted, be suitable for all nor will they come at the expense of clubs, which will continue to be fully supported as the 'bedrock' of talent that Sweetenham's revolution had started to provide an outlet for. Those for who centres are not suitable will continue to be supported as equal partners on Britain's journey, though codes of conduct will continue to be enforced.

'Bill has done a tremendous job. To be honest, he's done the hard yards and left a terrific legacy to build on, and that, the proximity of London 2012 and the opening of new 50-metre pools mean that the goals he had in mind for Britain are all the more realistic in terms of delivering high-performance success.'

The target for Beijing is four medals but the new man at the helm - who has a short-term contract but will discuss the prospect of a longer-term future with the Board of British Swimming this week in the wake of his first taste of a European short-course championships in Debrecen, Hungary, that witnessed four world and nine European records fall. Britain sent mostly third-string swimmers and took home no medals, the top team mostly away training and racing in Australia in readiness for a packed 2008. The second and third stringers did, however, perform well, with two British records aloft 40 personal bests achieved in an environment that reminds Britain of the journey it still has to travel.

In the longer-term, Scott will press for a much closer role between Britain and the rest of Europe in terms of having the best swimmers race more often in 'their own backyard'. Recognition of swimmers is rock-bottom in Britain, partly because of a lack of Olympic gold medals - not one since 1988 and not one to a woman since 1960 - and partly because Sweetenham's cultural revolution was impossible within the confines of the nation's infrastructure, prompting him to set up a permanent offshore case on the Gold Coast and focus his programme on foreign camps and competitions, often beyond Europe. The result: a domestic programme almost void of any of the fastest swimmers and national championships at which champions can be champions as third to fifth-placed swimmers in the country.

All of which contributes to a situation in Britain where swimmers are virtually unknown in terms of recognition among the wider public, while media coverage is meagre. A trawl of a media database of world publications including the majority of French and British media reveals a staggering statistic: in terms that may be more widely understood, to every one round-up item of 100 words on swimming in Britain, count on 1.5 pages of coverage in France for its national team. Laure Manaudou is clearly a factor but there is no publication in Britain that covers the national swimming scene on a weekly - at times daily - basis as do the likes of L'Equipe in France and Gazzetta in Italy.

Of course, the seascape would change dramatically in Britain if the nation's answer to Thorpe and Phelps were to walk through the door of a pool into the arms of the right coaching. Had Thorpey been British, he would have got every bit as much attention as he has done Down Under - and more of a kind he might not have wanted.

The media is only a small part (and in some cases, depending on personality, irrelevant) of any self-esteem and confidence important to athletic performance but much more important in ensuring that financial rewards flow from success. Which is where ITCs can play a role. Under the model proposed by Scott, one that at the elite end at least was called for by Sweetenham a long time before he left Britain, talented swimmers will have a home to go to in which the infrastructure is geared to giving them every possible advantage - which in this ever-shifting world (one in which you can almost guarantee that what you've got someone has already had and is moving on to the next nest thing) is not advantage at all unless under constant revision. Home means not only training in home waters but racing far more often against European rivals.

Scott sees his role up to Beijing as one of holding together the building blocks laid by his fellow Australian, while ensuring that all those on that journey get the support they need as they aim for their personal targets. 'The athletes all have time perspectives in mind and that's good and they can work to that,' said Scott. 'But they can't control the outcome in terms of what others are doing. My role is to understand their needs and the journey they will take to achieve their goals, and deliver the conditions that will make that possible.'

Sweetenham's preparation plans for Beijing have been left almost intact. The former performance director, now back in Australia, is due to catch up with Scott in January when the consultant visits Britain's offshore programme on the Gold Coast. Australians continue to bring experience and knowledge from a country that has a far higher success rate in world waters than Britain but Scott is keen to emphasise that that is not for lack of coaching and swimming talent. 'Give them the conditions and support and they can be as successful as anyone in the world ... it's my job to make sure that happens.'

And British Swimming's job to make sure he can make it happen. Which is where Sweetenham left off. Just 1,716 days to go before London welcomes the world.

The above is an extended version of an article in The Times, London.