SWIMMING Australia is prepared to jeopardise sponsorships by joining an international push to regulate the use of high-tech swimsuits that have been linked to more than 100 world records this year.

Swimming Australia president David Urquhart said FINA, the sport's international ruling body, had to clamp down on swimmers who were taking advantage of technology advancing ahead of regulations. "We are on the same page as the Americans on this and we could lose sponsorships, but it's all about doing what's right," he said. "FINA just does not have the regulations in place to stop people from having an unfair advantage. Some swimmers are wearing three suits and it's not illegal."

Swimming Australia has also called for ban on multi-layer suits.

Olympic legend Grant Hackett said he had been stunned to see swimmers wearing more than one suit. "You can't blame the manufacturers as they are working within the guidelines," he said.

Hackett, one of the greatest distance swimmers of all time, backed the call for tighter regulations, saying there should be a ban on newly designed suits 12 months before a major event such as the Olympics. He was also concerned that the suits, which cost about $400, could drive young swimmers away as they lasted for only a short time. FINA has said it would "take appropriate action" when its decision-making bureau meets in Dubai in March.

Susie O'Neill, who won a medal at every international event she entered, welcomed the FINA announcement but said "it's a little bit late". O'Neill was among the first wave of swimmers to wear suits at the Sydney 2000 Games. "They make a difference for girls with more curves, it helps them streamline and the softer men, it helps them tighten up," she said. "When you get tired you lose your streamline, and the suits, especially if you were wearing three, keep you in that position."

FINA will receive reports from an elite coaches' forum in Singapore next month and a February 20 meeting of suit manufacturers at FINA headquarters in Switzerland. Since Speedo's LZR Racer suit was made available last February 108 world records have been broken. Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Mike Tancred said: "The AOC does not feel that athletes should be wearing more than one suit, it's just not in the spirit of the event."

Speedo Australia marketing manager Tiffany Scott-Maher said hundreds of people had been involved in developing the suit at considerable cost.