No matter how Kiera Aitken performed last night, she could bank on the support of mother, Mary Beth, who is attending these Games as swim team manager.

With two daughters among the best in Bermuda – Kiera's sister, Ashley, owns two national records – mom knows all too well the trials and tribulations both have endured to get to the top.

And she admits to being angry at the way she feels Bermuda fails to assist its elite athletes.

Having seen the Island's two national sports, football and cricket, handed millions of dollars by Government over the past few years, Aitken says she's saddened by the way individual athletes, such as her daughter, have been virtually ignored.

"I'm very vocal about how angry it makes me, that they will give $10 million or whatever to these sports . . . and, yes, they are team sports and I can understand the rationale, but then you should spread it around a bit, especially when you have athletes who have reached this (Olympic) level," she argues.

"You don't wait until a few weeks before the event and then say 'here's a couple of uniforms', and then off you go to the Olympics.

"You see that they have the potential long before, and you say 'yes, we're going to support you and we expect you do this, this and this'.

"But (Government) don't offer financial support. It's been a struggle for Kiera, a real struggle.

"I know it worries her, mentally she's just worried. It's very difficult and discouraging. She's made to feel that she's not important."

Aitken trains almost exclusively overseas with the 25 metre pool at Saltus clearly inadequate.

Here in Beijing, the state-of-the-art Aquatics Centre is considered one of the best in the world.

But there are several others within driving distance that put to shame the pool in which Bermuda's top swimmers have to compete and train.

"We went to a facility last evening, I thought it was a Middle school but it was actually a sports facility," said Mary Beth.

"It had three pools – a dive facility, a 50 metre pool and a 25 metre warm-up pool – and this is a country that is supposed to be just emerging.

"Bermuda is supposed to be one of the richest countries in the world and we don't cater to our athletes, we don't provide support for them, we don't provide facilities for them.

"We don't provide financial backing for them and it makes me wonder what they expect from the athletes when they don't provide anything for them, or match what other countries are doing, even the little countries.

"Kiera trains with two guys, one from Venezuela and one from somewhere else, and their countries actually pay for them to go and train in Spain. They give them a living wage, a salary.

"She has another friend who trains in Spain and her country gave her 4,000 euros just to go home and swim in their Nationals, just one meet.

"Bermuda doesn't do that for its athletes, they want them to perform on the international stage and perform well, but they don't want to contribute."