A tear was shed on Monday night, but then Mitch Larkin put the disappointment of his 100m backstroke near miss to bed, and locked in on securing gold in Thursday night's 200m backstroke final.

• ANALYSIS

The Olympics fancy themselves as the United Nations of sport, but this week would be described by foreign correspondents as a ticking time bomb.

Andrew Horton, the proud father of 400m freestyle gold medallist Mack, admitted he had no idea if his son had managed to win gold as his view in the last 15 metres of the race was blocked by the crowd in front of him.

The more Mack Horton and Sun Yang avoided contact - body, eye, incidental - the more of a contact sport this became.

Legendary Australian swimming coach and the country's oldest Olympian, Forbes Carlile, has died at age 95.

The time difference this year is unforgiving but these Olympic hopefuls will make the late nights and early mornings worth the effort.

Matthew Abood will have a "million things" running through his head when he enters the Olympic village in Rio.

Cate Campbell became the fastest woman to ever grace the pool, then celebrated with a quote from Cool Runnings, as she blasted her way into the records books.

Forget her rivals, Cate Campbell expects her stunning 100m freestyle world record to fire up her sister Bronte the most ahead of the Rio Olympics.

Michael Phelps edged old foe Ryan Lochte in a pulsating 200 metres individual medley showdown at the US Olympic trials on Friday, adding another thrilling chapter to the greatest rivalry in swimming.

Medal prospects Melissa Wu and Brittany Broben must finish top two in the Games diving trials in Melbourne starting on Thursday.

Former world champion Geoff Huegill has backed Canberra swimmer Alicia Coutts to go out on a high at her Olympic Games swansong.

Grant Hackett admits he has tarnished his reputation, but an even greater swimmer who has had his own problems is helping him battle his demons.

• COMMENT

Is swimming now at the point that the only way you get to be world-class is by training to such extremes that life-skills are left in your wake?

Organisers have promised to install an air-conditioned tent to ward off mozzies as threat of Zika virus continues to loom over Games.

He's lightning fast in the pool, is obsessed with the cosmos and has his own Weibo page. Rio-bound Cameron McEvoy's star is rising ... in China of all places.

A former great of the pool and one of it's rising stars have gone in to bat for Grant Hackett, saying the disgraced Olympian should still be amentor for the Australian team in Rio.

Swimming Australia boss John Bertrand is shocked by Grant Hackett's behaviour on a flight from Adelaide to Melbourne on Sunday.

The Olympic breastroke champion says the sport shouldn't distance itself from Grant Hackett and that his imperfections only highlight the pitfalls of retirement.