All eyes on Palmer to be life of the party

Let the party begin. Or, in the case of Britain's swimmers, perhaps not. The team derided by Jonathan Edwards, the world record holder in the triple jump, as Olympic no-hopers just out to have fun will be given the opportunity over the next eight days to set the record straight. It will be an immense task.

Edwards quickly expressed regret at his suggestion that 90% of the swimmers have no chance of winning a medal, and that he would have to move out of the Olympic village in search of a sound night's sleep if they insisted upon lurching noisily back from a good night out at two o'clock in the morning.

Equally, Britain's swimmers might imagine that, once their Olympics are over, they are entitled to a wild party or two. Few sports demand such obsessive commitment. Intensive training sessions can stretch to five hours in the pool a day and, for all but the elite, there is the awful prospect of grinding up and down public pools at the most unsocial hours of the day.

But respect does not come easily without quantifiable success, and swimming has come to symbolise British failures in recent Olympics - no more so than in Atlanta four years ago when Paul Palmer's 400m freestyle silver was our only medal in the pool.

It has to be said that despite undeniable lottery-funded improvements in terms of facilities, coaching and financial support, things are unlikely to be much better this time.

The responsibility resting on Palmer in this morning's 400m freestyle is impossible to overstate. His coach, Ian Turner, has referred to the culmination of "15 years of hard work", and insists the swimmer has "never looked better". Another medal for Palmer and a team feeling persecuted before the first race even began would regain their self-belief; a total failure and they might become the first team to wear plankton bodysuits.

Stephen Parry, a muscular and straightforward Liverpudlian ranked fourth in the world this year, will be one of Britain's best medal prospects when he races in the 200m butterfly on Tuesday. But hopes that James Hickman might also prosper over 100m are based on unconvincing evidence. A similar observation could be made about Mark Foster as he makes a final medal tilt in the 50m freestyle.

The strides made by two teenage women - Alison Sheppard in the 50m free, and Helen Don-Duncan in the 200m backstroke - are reason to regard the future with optimism. But lifetime-best performances in their respective finals would still be unlikely to put them among the medals.

At least there should be a bronze for the men's 4x200m relay squad, even if they do trail in well behind Australia and the United States. Should the race deliver one of Britain's few bright moments, it is to be hoped the host broadcaster Channel 7 keeps its nationalistic tendencies in check. It would be nice to catch a glimpse of them.