British performances have improved despite the facilities

National performance director Bill Sweetenham also accused businesses and local authorities of a "parasitical approach" to charges for swimmers.

Britain has 19 Olympic size pools open to the public, whereas Sweetenham's native Australia - with a population just one third of the UK's -has 47.

"Successive governments have not looked after [the sport] well," he said.

Britain left the 2000 Olympics without a single medal, but Sweetenham has since overseen major improvements in the standards and performances of its top swimmers.

But he said told a news conference on Tuesday: "Britain... is a third world country when it comes to swimming facilities."

Profile: Bill Sweetenham

Sweetenham said that British swimmers have travelled to Australia and the United States to take advantage of warmer weather and escape the high cost of using British pools.

He claimed: "We have a parasitical approach by those people that run them, trying to extract high revenue from competition uses, and Britain has paid the price for that."

Despite his criticisms, Sweetenham has managed to make British swimming into a force to be reckoned with again.

The national team won seven medals at the 2001 world championships in Japan and eight in Barcelona last year.

Sweetenham added he thought Britain could win two or three medals at the Athens Olympics in August.

"We're moving forward...each Olympic quadrennium we're going to see massive improvements," he said.