Schirp conceded that bringing in a foreign swimming coach was a last resort.

"You only do this kind of thing if you have a serious problem," he said.

Given Germany's storied history at Olympic swimming events, the last thing it wants is any more bad press in the pool.

At the Montreal Games in 1976, Kornelia Ender won four gold as the East German women's team seized 10 of 11 individual events and broke eight world records to share the spoils with the US.

The Germans were later accused of using banned anabolic steroids.

Ines Geipel, an athlete who wrote a book on the subject, asked for her name to be stripped from East Germany's record-holding 4x100m relay team from 1984, claiming that the drugs had in fact worked.

At the Seoul Olympics in 1988, the last Games that saw East and West compete separately, East Germany pulled in a phenomenal 29 medals in the pool, almost one-third of its total medal haul of 102.

While Germany has worked hard to rebuild its reputation, the response to Britta Steffan's win at last year's European championships shows how it is struggling to shake off lingering suspicions.

After Steffan set a new world record in the 100m freestyle event following a record slump, she was assailed by suggestions that drugs had fueled her comeback. Detractors questioned how she failed to make the Athens squad, did not race at all in 2005, then somehow managed to snap a seven-year lull by setting a new personal best.

What was less known at the time was that she battled a crippling eating disorder to win.

The rekindled criticism prompted Madsen to suggest a strict "blood passport" regimen be implemented to prove his squad's innocence at future events. Germany's swimming federation also invited the world anti-doping agency (WADA) to blood test its athletes before and during training camps.

Schirp said a bigger problem on the horizon would be the new threat from the Asia-Pacific region, making for even stiffer competition at the Beijing Games.

"We're expecting a strong showing from Asia-Pacific countries, especially taking into account the intense rivalry from countries like Japan and China."

Athletes in the region have been bolstered by China's hosting of the Olympics. The fight for regional bragging rights has seen new talents emerge like three-time Doha Asian Games winner Park Tae-hyun of South Korea and Athens winner Kosuke Kitajima of Japan.

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