It used to be Ian Thorpe taking all the limelight, but he did share it with the likes of Grant Hackett and others. The superstar of swimming these days is Michael Phelps of the United States, while there are no female swimmers that are this dominant at international level, although many Australian female swimmers perform exceptionally well in certain categories. Fore example, Leisel Jones in the breast stroke, and Libby Lenton in the freestyle and butterfly, and many more exciting youngsters that are just coming into the international spotlight. Backstroke has always been dominated by Lenny Krazelberg, and Japan's Katajima (I don't know first name) has performed over a long period in the breast stroke. Alexander Pope was the dominant 50m freestyle swimmer before he retired. There are lots of stars, just depends on your definition of it I guess.
