BEIJING—China played down reports that it bought the top-secret training methods of a leading Australian swim coach, which helped Liu Zige come from nowhere to win the women’s 200m butterfly.

Australian newspapers said Ken Wood sold his know-how to Liu’s coach Jin Wei for “big money.”

The report sparked a storm Down Under as Wood also coached top Australian 200m butterflyer Jessicah Schipper, who Liu—unknown before the Beijing Olympics—beat into third place, snatching her world record in the process.

‘Hype and nonsense’

“The so called top-secret program was just hype and nonsense,” Chinese head coach Zhang Yadong told China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

“She (Liu) trained in Australia before, but a lot of other swimmers did too. It was her ability that made her successful.”

Stroke technique, diet

It was only China’s third gold since its prime at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when it won four.

On Sunday, Wood was quoted as saying of China: “They pay good money, big money. I wouldn’t help them for nothing.”

He denied betraying Schipper, saying he hadn’t trained Liu since Australia’s Olympic trials in March.

Wood runs a high performance swim school north of Brisbane offering a program for elite swimmers on stroke technique, weight training, diet and preparation.

Liu has trained at the school three times over the past three years.