Michael Klim may not regard himself as one of swimming's all-time greats, but the weight of his medals provides a persuasive argument for him to take his place in the pantheon of the pool.

The 20-year-old, shaven-headed Australian was the colossus of the World Swimming Championships with his seven medals from seven swims. That does not put him quite in seven-times Olympic gold medal-winner Mark Spitz's class, but definitely puts him alongside, if not above, Matt Biondi and Michael Gross.

Klim's four gold, two silver and one bronze medal made him the most successful male swimmer in world championships history and he was fittingly judged `swimmer of the meet'.

American flyer Biondi won three gold, two silver and two bronze at the 1986 championships in Madrid and was a triple gold medallist at the 1991 meet, also in Perth. American Tracy Caulkins is the greatest medal-winner overall with her five gold and one silver at the Berlin championships in 1978.

Australia, swept along in Klim's slipstream, nudged past the discredited Chinese and Germany to finish as the second nation behind the dominant United States.

The US topped the medal chart with 14 golds amongst their total of 24 medals, with Australia clearly the second team with seven gold amongst a haul of 20 medals.

Amongst their medal winner was Australian favourite and Olympic champion Susan O'Neill who shattered the world championship 200m butterfly record to give the hosts a perfect start on the final day of competition. O'Neill sliced half-a-second off the mark set by American Mary Meagher in 1986 when winning in 2:07.93.

She led fellow Australian Petria Thomas home in a repeat of the gold and silver sweep the pair produced at the 1996 Atlanta Games when they denied Ireland's Michelle Smith - an absentee from Perth - a fourth Olympic title. this time, American Misty Hyman took the bronze.

Klim powered to victory in the 200 metres freestyle in the sixth-fastest time ever recorded for the event of one minute 47.41 seconds and set the second-quickest time in history when he won the 100m butterfly in 52.25 seconds, just one-tenth of a second outside his world record.

The Polish-born Klim led off the winning 200m freestyle team, with the Australians about half a second off the world record, and finished the final night of the championships yesterday with a sensational win over the Americans in the 100m medley relay, when he swam the third butterfly leg in a sensational 51.80 seconds.

Klim tasted defeat for the first time against the mighty Russian Alexander Popov in the 100m freestyle and was a bronze medallist in the 50m freestyle where his training partner Popov was upset by American flyer Bill Pilczuk.

Five-time Olympic gold medallist Jenny Thompson was the female swimmer of the meet with her four gold medals and a silver from six swims.

Thompson won both the 100m freestyle and butterfly and teamed up to take relay golds in the 100m freestyle and 100m medley.

Six world records were set in the pool in Perth at the last world championships in 1991 - but this time there were none.

The 1998 championships, apart from the sordid Chinese drugs affair, will be remembered for 15-year-old Australian teenager Ian Thorpe, with the size-16 feet, surging home to finger-tip teammate Grant Hackett out of the gold medal in the 400m freestyle and the Russian sprint czar, Alex Popov.

Popov may have suffered a rare defeat in a major sprint in the 50 metres, but his consummate victory over Klim was a highlight.

Hackett bounced back from his 400m freestyle disappointment to become the third fastest man in history to swim the 1,500m, winning in 14:51.70, only bettered by world record holder Kieren Perkins and German Jorg Hoffman.

There were tears as Roxane Maracineanu captured France's first-ever gold medal at a world championships in the 200m backstroke and the exhilaration of the Franziska Van Almsick-led German team's victory in the women's 200m freestyle relay over the United States.

China, whose women monopolised the previous 1994 Rome championship winning 12 of the 16 women's events, were a pale shadow here, no doubt ripped apart by the positive dope tests and subsequent suspensions of Wang Luna, Cai Huijue, Zhang Yi and male backstroker Wang Wei.

That followed the amazing discovery of 13 vials of undiluted human growth hormones in the baggage of breaststroker Yuan Yuan at Sydney Airport on her way to Perth.

World body FINA subsequently banned Yuan from swimming for four years and her coach Zhou Zhewen for 15 years for his part in bringing the prohibited substance into Australia.

In the rubble of the Chinese performance, Chen Yan's two golds and one silver were a tribute to her resilient character, if not her ability.

FINA, who earned criticism from the world swimming media for their inflexible administration in face of the mounting drug menace, announced that the next world championship will take place in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2001.