Australian team expects world swimming titles to close door on culture of drug abuse, bullying and bad behaviour The Olympic men's 100m freestyle relay squad: Cameron Mc Evoy, Eamon Sullivan, James Roberts, James Magnussen, Matt Targett and Tommaso Dorsogna. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Limited IT will be in a stadium on a hilltop in Spain that Australia's swimmers seek to draw a line under their worst year. A year that produced a poor Olympic performance, the outing of a "toxic culture" of harassment and bullying of female swimmers, of drug abuse; a year that claimed a coach, a chief executive, a president and a major sponsor. On July 27, Swimming Australia will field a team of athletes in the FINA world championships in Barcelona. One insider said the event was the circuit-breaker Australian swimming needed. "They're going to go over there, get some great results, then out of that, start their search for a new sponsor," the insider said. They've just got to get through to the world championships. Next week, a report by barrister Bret Walker SC will be handed to the Australian Olympic Committee. It will detail how some of Australia's best male swimmers abused the banned sleeping tablet Stilnox days before the Olympics. And how, once affected by the drug, they made late-night phone calls and knocked on doors of female athletes. If you believe the men, it was a stupid but ultimately harmless prank, carried out as part of a "bonding session." If you believe the women, it was intimidating, and involved half-dressed men coming uninvited into the female swimmers' bedrooms and harassing them with "inappropriate behaviour." The report is the final post-mortem into events that started with the Stilnox madness at a pre-Olympics camp in Manchester and ended with the departure of Swimming Australia's president Barclay Nettlefold. He was the man brought in to clean up the culture at Swimming Australia, but resigned after allegations he made sexually charged and inappropriate comments in front of female staff. Chief executive Kevin Neil has also resigned, as has head coach Leigh Nugent. The Sunday Herald Sun has spoken to numerous people associated with Swimming Australia and its athletes. They said the fortunes of the nation's swimming team had been banked on one small group of male swimmers, to the exclusion of others. So important did this group become that poor discipline, bullying and bad behaviour were overlooked. Mostly, this revolved around the men's 4 x 100m freestyle relay swimmers - the so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction - and their hangers-on. When female swimmers complained, a coach and a senior swimmer took their concerns to Nugent in London. His alleged reply was, "You girls are flirting with the Dream Team." By commenting about some female swimmers being photographed with US basketballer and "Dream Team" member Kobe Bryant, Nugent overlooked what was happening with his swimmers. He later told the ABC the incident hadn't raised alarm bells with him and "my regret now is that I didn't follow it up." In February, five members of the 4 x 100m freestyle relay team - James Magnussen, Tommaso D'Orsogna, Cameron McEvoy, Eamon Sullivan and Matthew Targett - admitted taking Stilnox in Manchester. They were fined by Swimming Australia but may face further AOC sanctions. A sixth member, James Roberts, said he hadn't taken his tablet and instead disposed of it. He, like all the swimmers, has since been questioned by the AOC, which is also investigating whether a video exists of swimmers taking Stilnox on a flight. The press conference on February 21 was shown live on TV. Sponsors watched in anger as swimmers, bearing the name of sponsor Speedo and the stylised "E" of the Energy Australia logo on their T-shirts, stumbled through questions. When word leaked two months later to EnergyAustralia about Nettlefold's comments, it was enough for the power retailer. It invoked a "disrepute" clause in its contract and tore up its sponsorship. One year into a five-year deal, it cost Swimming Australia up to $6.5 million. Two internal reviews were held. One found there had been a series of "culturally toxic incidents" that demanded strong leadership. The leadership had not been not provided, the review found. And, possibly, more work needs to be done. At the Aquatic Super Series event in Perth in January, Alicia Coutts, Australia's top performer in London, with five Olympic medals, was intimidated in a lift by Targett, one of the Stilnox Five. It was a prank, but Coutts was the only female in the lift with three male swimmers as they returned to their team hotel. Coutts fell out of the lift, and fled to her room in tears. Targett, who did not return the Sunday Herald Sun's call, was "reprimanded" by Swimming Australia. He made her feel quite intimidated. He was casting his shadow over her and I think just being a smarta---. It was juvenile," a swimming source said. That same month, a senior backstroker "dacked" a teenage swimmer at an event in Queensland, pulling his pants down. Again, a prank, but carried out in a relatively public place on a younger swimmer, and it infuriated veteran coach Denis Cotterell, who gave the swimmer a robust dressing-down. Cotterell declined to speak about the matter or previous incidents, saying they were "ancient history now" and he wanted the sport to be able to move on. Coaching elite Australian swimmers has long been a perilous exercise. Nugent took over in December 2003. He coached Australian swimmers to 15 medals, including seven golds at the 2004 Athens Olympics. But Nugent returned to coaching the youth team and Alan Thompson was appointed to replace him. Thompson guided the team to a haul of 20 medals, including six golds, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But in December 2009 Thompson stood aside when claims - later discredited - of inappropriate behaviour were levelled against him. Despite his name being cleared, a corporate re-structure that diminished his power led him to accept redundancy in 2010. Nugent stepped back into the role. There is no suggestion Nugent behaved inappropriately; rather that he was friendly to the swimmers when he needed to be firm. Thommo ruled with an iron fist. There was no being late to trainings or missing meetings," a source said. But Leigh was more like a mate. There was this culture shift; the kids were getting away with things like turning up late. James Magnussen was the golden egg. He could do no wrong. That flowed on and deteriorated the culture. They (administrators and coaches) tried to accommodate him. Swimming Australia built them up so much they became the untouchables, the invincibles and it was proven by what went on in London they could do whatever they wanted. Another insider points out that criticism might not have been so fierce if the team had better success in London. Was it out of control? Well really it was door-knocking and prank calls. But in the context, they're meant to be competing and yet there's an initiation in taking Stilnox . . . it was out of control within that environment, yes," the insider said. But if they had won, it would have been put down to just Aussie larrikins having fun. Female swimmers have taken a different view. Emily Seebohm has said she was asked what she was wearing. Jade Nielsen has said the behaviour was "so inappropriate it's not funny." Coutts was Australia's top-performing swimmer of the London Olympics, but was intimidated in a lift. Nugent has taken extended leave. He did not return calls left with Swimming Australia, but remains connected with the organisation. Swimming Australia spokesman Lachlan Searle said Nugent's exact role ""moving forward" would be confirmed after the world championships. He did not say whether Nugent's new role would be a paid position. Mr Searle also said Swimming Australia's rebuilding was well underway. "We've made some significant and positive changes across the sport this year, including working with the swimmers to develop a new ethical framework and code of conduct," he said. We have a new CEO in Mark Anderson, who has been working hard on communication and stakeholder relationships in his first month in the role, and we have restructured our high-performance staffing and a have a new director of high-performance in Michael Scott, who will take the team to Barcelona. Mr Searle said swimming was fortunate in that it did not have to rush to find a new sponsor to replace EnergyAustralia. "We . . . will take our time to find the right fit for the brand," he said. The rebuild is well and truly underway and our next key priority is for our two world championship teams to finalise their preparations for competition in Barcelona and Montreal in July and August. Redemption for Swimming Australia may yet be found in the warm blue waters of a Spanish pool.