Swim world catching Aussies: Shane Gould

Australia's traditional dominance of swimming could be eroded by the 2012 London Olympics, according to swim legend Shane Gould.

The Munich Olympic triple gold medallist warned the rest of the world was catching up and Australia would have to work harder to maintain its edge.

Apart from Australia and the United States, swimming gold medals in Beijing have also gone to China, Japan, Korea, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Gould, 51, said it would become harder and harder for the dominant nations to continually set the pace.

"I doubt that they'll stay ahead," Gould said.

"I think we're going to see consistently more even performances across all countries."

She said the key was the quick exchange of information provided by the internet.

"Traditionally strong countries like Australia and the US will probably always be towards the top because of the facilities that we've got and the culture and importance we place on swimming.

"But I think it will be much more even because the information can be shared throughout other countries," she said.

"Because of the internet, there can be a very quick and easy exchange of information from one country to another.

"Particularly with video analysis, you can see what other people are doing and copy them and make educated guesses."

"What we're seeing is a general improvement in swimming worldwide.

"The medals and the records are being broken across the board, not just dominated by Australians.

"It's many different countries and I think that's a really good state of affairs."

Gould also believes Australian swim star and Beijing triple gold medallist Stephanie Rice may become better and more versatile.

"You never know. She's certainly added a spark to the Olympics and I think a medley swimmer is an all-round swimmer," she said.

"She'll still do lots of things, she might specialise in a stroke.

"Swimmers like to keep challenged and by doing another stroke that you might not be so good at it can spur you on to do better things.

"I think she's also proven that pretty does help, you get a bit more attention - but she's got a great personality as well and I think it's great for the sport," Gould said.