The absence of one of the most recognisable figures in the sport will be a blow to the organisers in the British city, who have built a new state-of-the-art aquatics centre for the Games.

The 29-year-old, winner of two gold medals and a bronze at the rearranged Olympic Games in Tokyo last year, has decided to take a break from the sport in the hope of prolonging her career until Paris 2024.

The decision last week by the International Swimming Federation to again postpone this year’s World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka because of COVID-19 appears to have persuaded Campbell to step back from the sport for a period.

Swimming Australia head coach Rohan Taylor announced her decision.

"Cate Campbell won't be swimming but primarily we will have a very strong team, that is our plan," Taylor told The ABC of Sport.

"The open conversation is ‘go away, have a think, then come back to me and tell me what I can do to provide support for you'.

"Obviously, I don't want anyone to finish swimming if they have got the motivation and desire - it's always that encouragement to really spend time before they [retire].

"Cate and I have had a number of chats … so I am very aware of her strategies."

Campbell has won a total of eight Olympic medals, including four consecutive golds in the 4x100 metres freestyle.

She has also won eight medals at the Commonwealth Games, including gold in the 100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley at Glasgow 2014 and 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly and 4x100m freestyle at Gold Coast 2018.

Australia’s swimmers will have three meetings in which they can qualify for Birmingham 2022, including the Australian Swimming Championships in Adelaide from April 4 to 9.

Two further meets on the weekend of June 18 and 19 - one in Sydney and another in Monaco - will also double as selection meets for Birmingham.

"The reason for doing that is we have some people coming back from injury, coming back on late prep from the Olympics," Taylor told The ABC of Sport.

"We wanted to give ourselves the best chance to have our best athletes available for Commonwealth Games - if we made them trial in April, we would probably not have a few of our big hitters who want to go to Commonwealth Games."

Australia have finished top of the swimming medals table in 17 of the last 18 Commonwealth Games, a record stretching back to Auckland in 1950.

The exception was Edmonton 1978 when the host nation Canada, inspired by six-time gold medallist Graham Smith, finished ahead of them.

At the last Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast four years ago, Australia won a remarkable 73 medals in the pool, including 28 gold – six more than all the other countries and territories combined.

There is due to be six days of swimming at Birmingham 2022, starting on July 29, the day after the Opening Ceremony, and concluding on August 3.

The new £73 million ($99 million/€87 million) Sandwell Aquatics Centre will be the busiest venue at the Commonwealth Games with a total of 40 swimming and 14 Para-swimming, along with 12 diving medals, up for grabs.