AMERICAN star Natalie Coughlin yesterday put Australian upstart Emily Seebohm in her place for declaring earlier this year that she was coming after the world champion and world record holder in the 100 metres backstroke.

Seebohm secured her place on the Australian team at the Olympic trials in March by breaking the watershed 60-second barrier for the second time in as many days and afterwards excitedly told the media: "Natalie Coughlin, I'm coming."

Asked for her reaction to that comment yesterday, Coughlin rolled her eyes and suggested the 16-year-old had some temerity. "If she wants to say that she can say that, [but] I would have never said that," Coughlin said.

"You kind of dig yourself into a hole sometimes when you make comments like that. A rookie mistake maybe or maybe she enjoys it, I've got no idea. But I would never say something like that because I would never handle the pressure that comes with it."

Apart from Seebohm (59.59), two other Australians have joined Coughlin, Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry and Frenchwoman Laure Manaudou in the sub-60 club: Sophie Edington (59.84) and Belinda Hocking (59.97).

But the 25-year-old Coughlin, for so long the ground-breaker in the two-lap event, reinforced her standing as the world's best backstroker when she became the first woman to swim under 59 seconds, at the American Olympic trials.

Coughlin said Seebohm was a tough competitor, but just one of many challengers in a field that includes former 200 backstroke world record holder Coventry and the enigmatic Manaudou.

"She's a strong backstroker who's come on very fast, very quickly the past two years, so she's one of the many backstrokers who I'm looking at competing against," Coughlan said.

Meanwhile, America's comeback queen, Dara Torres, who will swim at her fifth Olympic Games after giving birth to a daughter two years ago, said she was proud to be representing the older generation in Beijing.

The 41-year-old won the 50m and 100m freestyle at the American trials but dropped the longer distance to concentrate on the one-lap dash and the 4x100m freestyle relay.

"I just want to go out there for those 40-something-year-olds and show that age is just a number and go out there and have fun," she said.

However, Torres was taken aback when asked how it felt to be "female, 40 and fierce".

"You sound like you're from Glamour magazine," she told the reporter. "I'm embarrassed. I don't act 40. It's a great feeling at my age to go out there and do what I'm doing."