The allegations emerged on Tuesday (February 19) following the publication of two damning reports into the management and conduct of the team, which produced Australia's worst results for 20 years at london 2012. 

McGrath, a founding partner and owner of Griffin Legal in Canberra, will chair an Integrity Panel which will also include three members of Swimming Australia's Board, Peter Lozan, Chloe Flutter and Jeremy Turner, the organisation's interim chief executive.

"To establish the right culture, we have to investigate these allegations and deal with them appropriately by putting in place the right framework," said Swimming Australia President Barclay Nettlefold.

"I will be encouraging the panel to look at each allegation and we want to stop talking about rumour and act on the facts of what did or did not actually occur.

"We will be decisive, we will be firm and we will discipline athletes, coaches and staff accordingly, where such action is deemed appropriate and necessary, but we must get the facts first and follow the right processes to do that."

Nettlefold said swimmers, coaches and staff would be encouraged to come forth with information to aid the inquiry.


Swimming Australia later revealed that six members of the men's 4x100 metres freestyle relay team had come forward to discuss a team bonding session at a training camp in Manchester before the Games.

The squad, comprising James Magnussen, Matt Targett, Eamon Sullivan, James Roberts, Cameron McEvoy and Tommaso D'Orsogna, arrived in London confident of winning gold but ended up fourth in the final.

The review commissioned by Swimming Australia, conducted by business consultants Bluestone Edge, alleged that slack management had allowed a "culturally toxic" environment to develop among Australia's swimmers.

An Independent Swimming Review into the sport's high performance programme, commissioned by the Australian Sports Commission, also reported on Tuesday and made 35 recommendations for improvements.

One of the more serious allegations to emerge after London was that some team members had been subjected to initiation rituals involving Stilnox - a sedative banned by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) just before the Games.