SYDNEY, Feb 14 (AFP) - The coach of Australian swimming superstar Ian Thorpe said Monday the fertility of female swimmers was being threatened by a ‘win at all costs’ approach adopted by some coaches.

Tracey Menzies said the gruelling training regimes could interrupt athletes’ menstrual cycles and affect their fertility and warned that some coaches were ignoring the issue.

"Menstrual cycles reflect how the body actually functions and if you’re not getting periods that is a dangerous thing," Menzies told ABC television program Australian Story. "As coaches we’re liable for the fact that if we’re pushing their body to the edge we’ve got to be held accountable for what we’ve actually put these athletes through.

"Long term, what I want for my female athletes is when they leave the sport (to) be able to have children.

"I don’t think swimming is alone, I think there are several sports out there that are playing Russian roulette with their female athletes. They’re allowing the body to do things that aren’t normal."

Menzies revealed on the program her own health battles during her swimming career left her seriously ill and in danger of not being able to have children.

She said she was desperate to avoid putting on weight, to the extent that she almost starving herself.

"I was lying to my family - I was doing extra training when people weren’t around," Menzies said.

"When I was carrying the weight I wasn’t good enough and then when I lost the weight - I was starting to get praise-that was something I hadn’t had for months I was someone of importance again in that squad."

Thorpe surprised the swimming world when he split with long-time mentor Doug Frost to train with the relatively-unknown Menzies shortly after the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Thorpe said he turned to Menzies because he needed a change of training environment.