Leading Australian swimmers including Cate Campbell have rejected suggestions the swim contingent was distant from the rest of the Olympic team in Rio.
Campbell joined her younger sister Bronte and dozens of other returning Olympians including individual gold medallists Kim Brennan, Chloe Esposito and Tom Burton at a public reception at the Sydney Opera House on Monday.
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Lochte: 'I over-exaggerated the story'
U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte apologises to Brazil on national TV after admitting he exaggerated a story about being robbed at gunpoint during the Olympics in Rio.
For Cate the event was an another opportunity to soak up more support after her heartbreaking defeat in the women's 100 metres freestyle in Brazil but it was also a chance to defend the entire swim team.
She said the swimmers had not been aloof from the rest of the Australian team in the athletes' village in Rio and were hurt by such claims.
"There were and have been no issues raised with the swim team. We've been a valued part of the [Olympic team]. I'm sure that you could ask anyone in the team," Campbell said.
"We've got out and supported other sports, we've commiserated with people over a couple of drinks and I think you could ask any athlete and they'd say 'Yeah, the swimmers, they're a good bunch'. We felt like we deserved a little better. We've come a long way since London 2012.
"I'd fully put my hand up if we were in the wrong but we were completely in the clear. We had the moral high ground in every way.
"But it pulled us together as a team.
"This Dolphins team is the best team I've ever been a part of and I think our camaraderie spilled over to the greater Olympic team."
The suspicion among the swimmers is they were being used as pawns in a wider political game with questions about how they carried themselves around the rest of the team.
They deny claims they ripped down posters that had the AOC's "One Team" logo from the walls of their section in the village and say they simply put up their own as well including caricatures of swimmers.
"My job isn't to play political games, my job is to swim up and down a pool," Campbell said. "Whatever political games are being played, let them be played far away from me and my team because we deserve better."
Swim team leader Matt Abood said the culture of the team was indistinguishable from London four years ago.
"As a team we were completely invested in the Olympic team's wider values and aims and we got along to see as much sport as we could in the second week," he said. "We sat down with the AOC and we asked them 'are there any problems?' and there are no problems."
Campbell, meanwhile, is yet to fully process her performance in Rio but the public backing, which continued at Monday's reception, has clearly been a healer.
"The positive reinforcement has just been immense — and it kind of almost makes me start believing it myself."
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