Thorpe, who has won five golds at the Pan Pacific Championships in Japan, has refused to comment on speculation that he plans to leave Frost.

Newspaper reports in Australia claim the 19-year-old multiple world record-holder may switch to Tracey Menzies, a young assistant to Frost.

But Talbot believes such reports are jumping the gun, insisting Thorpe's partnership with Frost is still very much alive.

"They've been like any other coach and athlete - they've had a little bit of a rocky path in the past," said Talbot.

"Nothing major. Coaches often have blow-ups with their athletes.

"They had a great rapport and they had a lot of confidence in each other apart from, as I say, little differences of opinion.

"Swimmers do leave their coaches, but not normally when they're at the top of the tree. Let's just see what happens when the dust settles down."

Thorpe goes for his sixth Pan Pacific gold in the 4x100m medley relay final on Thursday.

His success follows a record six gold tally at the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

He won three golds at the Sydney Olympics and six at last year's world championships.

But Talbot feels Thorpe may struggle to maintain such dominance in the pool if he decides to ditch Frost, who has coached him since he was eight.

"I think that Ian will be hard-pressed to find anybody who is going to keep him where he is now and also get the improvements that he's going to need going into the Athens Olympics," said Talbot.