Yatchting Australia claim that they are being forced to pay A$130,000 (£75,000/$116,000)) a year for access to the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA)  where the sailing events will be held in 2012.

Yatchting Australia's high performance director Peter Conde claimed that the WPNSA had charged reasonable fees last year but had dramatically increased the price for the next two years, leading them to appeal to the Australian Sports Commission for extra funding to cover the increased cost.

Conde told The Australian: "They have dug their heels in."

Malcolm Page, who won a gold in the 470 at the Olympics in Beijing, two years ago, claimed that the Australians were not the only team to complain about what they are being charged.

Page, a member of the International Sailing Federation's athletes commission, claimed that the fees were far in excess of what was charged in Sydney before the 2000 Olympics there and that the policy would prevent smaller countries developing.

He said: "When you compare it with Sydney, we charged them just the normal membership - I think the Woollahra Sailing Club charged less thanA $20 (£11/$18) a day.

"It makes you wonder if we were stupid.

"But the ideals of the Olympics are that it should be available to all.

"These fees will push out a lot of the smaller countries and give the Western countries, which are already strong, an even bigger advantage."

There is fierce competition between Australia and Britain, who have finished top of the medals table for the last three Olympics, including in Beijing when Britain won six medals, including four gold.

Australia were second with three medals, two of them gold.

Conde, though, did admit that by agreeing to the charges it did save Australia money in other areas.

He said: "We're not ecstatic about paying the money, but it gives us the access we need for 60-odd people whenever we want it, plus storage and permission to put two containers permanently on site as our workshop.

"It's not cheap, but when you break it down it's not completely unreasonable because we will save on other costs."

But Conde agreed that Britain got a better deal before the Olympics in Sydney where they pipped Australia to finish top of the medals table with five medals, including three gold, one of which was won by Ben Ainslie (pictured).

He said: "I think it would have been very, very economical for other teams to come to Sydney and prepare here.

"There are countless places around Sydney Harbour that you can use as a base, but in Weymouth, there's really only that one good facility.

"And we have to go there.

"It's not like a swimming pool where the conditions are the same everywhere.

"We have to know the local conditions."

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