As first reported on insidethegames in August, the Australian swim team is interested in using the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown in West Dublin as its training base in the run-up to 2012.

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has now contacted Ireland's Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism and the management of the centre in recent weeks to discuss the proposal.

Australia is one of swimming’s world powers, winning 18 medals in Beijing, including six gold.

The Australians are arguably the country who have done the most forward-planning for 2012 having signed in February 2007 a deal to set up a training centre in Gavirate, Northern Italy, to prepare athletes for London.

They have also recently finalised a deal with Wales for their Paralympic team to base themselves there in 2012.

The University of Limerick's hopes of hosting a major team, meanwhile, have also been given a massive after it emerged that Bolt plans to base himself there during the build-up to the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

Ireland's Sports Minister Martin Cullen has confirmed that he is currently in the process of arranging a visa for Bolt, who in Beijing became the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the 100 metres, 200m and 4x100m at the same Games.

But Bolt's achievement was even more historic because he set a world record in all three events.

Bolt's agent Ricky Simms is a former employee of the University of Limerick.

Jamaica finished third in the athletics medal table in Beijing behind the United States and Russia with 11 medals, including six gold, the country's best ever performance in the Olympics, making them an attractive country to host.

In September Birmingham City Council Leader Mike Whitby claimed to be advanced talks with the Jamaican Minister of Sport Olivia Grange about the team basing themselves in the Midlands.

If Bolt likes it in Limerick, however, he and his coach, Glen Mills, will almost certainly press the Jamaican Olympic Committee to use it as their base before London 2012.

Cullen said: "The facilities provided [in Limerick] are of the highest standard and I am pleased to note the range of diversity among the many individuals and groups, local, national and international, who train here, utilising all of the facilities on site.

"The All Blacks team told me that the facilities in Limerick were the best it had encountered and that there was only one other facility in the United Kingdom or Ireland that it considered to be on a par."

Attracting teams as high-profile as Australia and Jamaica would be a big boost for the Irish Government, who appointed a task force last year to examine whether this country’s facilities would appeal to international athletes preparing to take part in London.