Australian national swimming coach Don Talbot and Olympic champion Susan O'Neill have accused the record-breaking Chinese swimmers of being drug cheats. "They are obviously cheating. They are machines, They are not even people," said O'Neill who won a gold at Atlanta in the 200 metres butterfly.

However, Chinese authorities denied any accusations of cheating, after female Chinese swimmers set a clutch of world-best times and broke two world records at the Chinese National Games in Shanghai.

But Talbot said: "You have got to be naive to think they are clean. This is a planned policy. It is East Germany all over again."

"I think the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and FINA (the international swimming federation) will protect them when they should be suspicious," said Talbot in Tasmania where Australian swimmers are in camp preparing for the World Championships.

The national coach called for the development of improved skills in the hunt for performance-enhancing drugs. The Chinese "have got to be kidding themselves if they think it is not obvious to the world," he said.

"It is sad nations have to go to that extent, and there's no question in my mind they're cheating - again," Talbot added.

However, Guo Qinglong, the president of the Chinese Swimming Association, insisted that the success of the past decade had come from hard work and not doping.

Guo said specially-trained coaches were behind the dozens of Olympic and world champions to come out of China in the past decade. Guo said: "China will, as always, support the anti-doping compaign. Any athletes who used banned drugs to enhance their performance will be severely punished."

However, O'Neill (24) said she found the situation a "bit sickening" as it was similar to Rome in 1994 when Chinese swimmers won 12 of the 16 women's events. "Each time I say anything about this, they say I am a racist, but it is too important to keep quiet," she said.

Talbot claimed the Chinese had put out their swimmers' times to "demoralise others and convince us they are unbeatable, but we won't be conceding anything."

He noted that in Shanghai, My Yanyan set a new world time for the 200 metres individual medley and Chen Yan broke a 15-year-old world record for the women's individual 400 metres medley.

"Six months ago those swimmers were not in the top 50," he said, pointing out that normally swimmers do not move up world rankings so fast.

Meanwhile, Kristin Otto has again denied that she had taken drugs while swimming for East Germany. "I have up to now received no evidence that I was given medicine which harmed my body," said Otto who won six gold medals at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

"Of course I took pills and of course I swallowed them," Otto said yesterday, adding she had no reason to believe the pills she had taken contained any banned substance.