Triple Olympic gold medallist Ian Thorpe's claim that some of the swimmers he will come up against in Athens next month will have taken drugs has landed him in hot water with the sport's governing body FINA.

In an interview with Australian television station Channel 7 on Tuesday Thorpe asserted: "It would be naive to think that everyone's going to be clean at the Olympic Games.

"Of course I've swum against doped athletes."

The 21-year-old's remarks provoked a stinging response from FINA which said in a statement that it "regretted" the Australian swimming champion's remarks.

"(Thorpe's) attitude is unacceptable because he's accusing all the swimmers picked for the Olympic Games of being doped without any proof," the statement added.

The Lausanne-based umbrella body pointed out it had been at the forefront of the fight against drugs.

"What's more, in cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA), it's established a vast control programme in and out of competition with significant results," FINA added.

Former multiple Olympic gold medallist Janet Evans also took issue with Thorpe in her capacity as president of FINA's athletes' commission.

"I don't agree with his claim. FINA's anti-doping policy does as much as it can to ensure that swimmers will be clean at the Games," she argued.

"I sincerely believe swimming is a clean sport."

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