SA swimming star Ryk Neethling has dismissed claims made by his former girlfriend, American swimmer Amanda Beard, that they only ever saw eye to eye when high on a wide range of drugs.

In her recently published autobiography, In the Water They Can’t See You Cry, the 7-time Olympic medallist said that Neethling’s resentment of her success in the water made for stormy relations.

In one passage in the book she alleges that during a two month holiday spent with Neethling’s family in South Africa, she and Ryk binged on ecstasy, acid and cocaine. Beard also says in the book that their “loud screaming mean fights” would sometimes drive her to cut herself as a misguided means of coping.

“I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” she writes. “I was trying to figure out how to live in a bad relationship.”

According to Beeld, Neethling (pictured shooting an ad) was surprised to hear of his ex’s allegations.

He pointed out that he had passed almost 200 drug tests during his competitive career, which would have proved difficult for a man who liked to liven up his acid trips with a few lines of coke on family visits.

Dr Shuaib Manjra, chair of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) medical commission also spoke up in the local swimmer’s defence, saying: “Ryk has never tested positive for banned substances. Sascoc will therefore not investigate.”

The two swimmers first met  at the University of Arizona when she was a freshman and Neethling a senior. They began dating in 1999, with the relationship  ending after the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

In his own 2008 autobiography, Chasing the Dream, Neethling confirmed that his relationship with Beard had been a prickly one.