Scottish swimmers continue to make waves in GB pool . . .

Instead, Michael Jamieson came good in the 200m breakstroke final, missing out on a gold medal only to a world-record performance from Daniel Gyurta (he was beaten by an eighth of a second by he Hungarian), while Miley and Robbie Renwick both showed extraordinary character in recovering from disappointment to outstrip expectations in their secondary events. Caitlin McClatchey, meanwhile, reached a final and so, too, did veteran David Carry, the first time in his career.

Yet there is not a trace of smugness in the demeanour of Ally Whyke, Scottish Swimming's head of performance, as he looks back at one major meet at which his charges fully achieved their targets, and also ahead to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow for which there is now considerable cause for optimism.

Though candid, he is magnanimous in his assessment of events in the Olympic pool and realistic about what is to come over the next few years. "Overall, from the GB perspective, it's pretty clear that we didn't quite live up to the team's expectations," he said. "I think that's the important thing. It's the team that had the expectations. Unfortunately it didn't pan out [the way we hoped], but there were some very good performances within that, not just from Scottish swimmers but also from British swimmers.

"The Scottish swimmers swam well – not without their hiccups on the way I would suggest – but five out of six made finals and the sixth [Craig Benson] made a semi-final swimming a Scottish record. So, overall, the Scottish performances were pretty strong and Michael winning a silver medal was really the icing on the cake.

"Our [Scottish Swimming's] main corporate target was to have six to eight swimmers in the top 15 in the world. We achieved that before the Games started with nine in the top 15 at the time of the trials and if you measure it now it's six, a reduction which is to be expected once the main meet of the season is complete. So we met our target which was fantastic, but we were part of Team GB and we wanted the whole team to succeed."

With leading officials at UK Sport having made it very clear this week that there will be some tough talking done as each sport makes a case for future funding based on how it performed against the previously agreed targets, it is conceivable that Scottish Swimming could be unfairly damaged by being part of a British set-up.

Whyke prefers not to talk in such terms, however, explaining that with the split currently around 60% from the public purse and 40% privately raised, the important thing for Scottish Swimming is to keep trying to generate its own funding.

"We've had pretty strong support from sportscotland anyway, and I think that part of the reason we're pretty successful is that continuity of support allied to a pretty strong structure with really good governance in place and a set of strong coaches out there," he said

"In Scotland we're in a fairly strong position but, as part of Team GB, we're part of UK Sport, British Swimming. Everything filters down at the end of the day doesn't it? So we're very supportive of what British Swimming are trying to do and we're part of it.

"We get a pretty strong investment from British Swimming here, while there is a strong investment within Scotland, but at the same time it's not putting all your eggs in one basket. We concentrate as a company that we don't have a massive imbalance between public funding and what we can raise ourselves. That's one of our key things; trying to get a good balance between the two."

The balance of competitions – World and European championships as well as Olympics – also means they must currently see themselves as very much a part of British Swimming, with English, Welsh or Northern Irish swimmers based in Scotland able to expect as much support as Scots based in other parts of the UK.

Whyke acknowledges, however, that for Scottish sports people the Commonwealth Games, not least a home one, represents a particular opportunity. Projecting towards that draws encouragement from what he has seen, with some reservations thrown in.

"We're in a pretty good place, but one of the key things we learned from the Olympics was that the Commonwealth nations are pretty strong and Glasgow's going to be a very, very tough meet," he said. "You look at how the South Africans did or the Canadians, who have already said they want to be the top swimming nation in Glasgow, the other home nations as well. So we're under no illusions that when it comes to 2014 it's [not] going to be a walk in the park."

A reminder that he has not mentioned what was previously perceived as a swimming super power is received with a wry laugh. "Yes . . . it would be remiss of me not to mention the Australians, either. They're certainly going to want to come to Glasgow and put a cat among the pigeons almost to redeem themselves if you like."

What can Scotland expect from its swimmers in Glasgow then? If they can continue to hit their targets as they did in London the answer would appear to be quite a lot.

"We've had the Commonwealth Games target set for a couple of years now and it's a pretty challenging target to have a top-four medal table finish," said Whyke. "We shouldn't shy away from that but it's a pretty aspirational target. We managed it in 2006, so we're looking to try to replicate that.

"As well as Australia, England and Canada, though, you've got New Zealand, South Africa and Wales winning Olympic medals, so it actually makes it harder to get higher on the medal table. The encouraging thing for us is that we've had quite a good Olympics and we had quite a good qualifying as well with quite a lot of young swimmers challenging for spots in the Olympic team.

"There are lots of opportunities to be had. Some of our swimmers are really coming up quick now, so it's not just about Hannah, it's not just about Michael, we've got others we hope will be up challenging."