A young boy was not forced to wear a female swimsuit at swimming training as any sort of punishment and was in fact wearing his own bathers, according to the mother of the 15-year-old at the centre of a report by The Australian.

After two-time Olympic silver medallist Maddie Groves's allegations about the culture within the sport, The Australian published a photograph of a boy wearing brightly coloured floral swimwear and quoted a parent of another swimmer as saying it was used as a punishment for "training like a girl".

"It was a ­humiliating experience for him while other swimmers, some of whom are Olympians, looked on and ­giggled," the anonymous parent was quoted as saying.

Nine media revealed the boy in the photo was 15-year-old Soren Zwolsman, whose mother completely rejected the story.

"Everyone knows Soren. My children are … not worried about gender stereotypes," Monika Zwolsman told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

"Soren has gone to school wearing girls' dresses. When he was little he walked around in dresses all the time. He doesn't care. If there is something he likes he will wear it.

"They are probably his own bathers. Why would that be a problem?"

The Australian's report said the coach in question is currently working at the Australian Olympic Swimming Trials and had represented Australia as a team coach multiple times, but Ms Zwolsman said the coach in charge of the session "would never treat any swimmer badly".

A statement from Swimming Australia on Monday night addressed the photo of the young boy and said he was not forced to wear the costume as a punishment.

"We have identified the individuals involved and the circumstances surrounding this photograph, taken two years ago without the child's permission," a statement read.

"The swimmer was photographed wearing a swimsuit that was gifted to him as a Christmas present.

"This changing of swimsuits was not a form of shaming or punitive action, as confirmed by the parties involved this evening.

Ms Zwolsman's older son Yannick is competing at the ongoing trials for the Tokyo games.

The Australian also included a number of new allegations, including a female swimmer being told to "get a boob reduction", coaches making pig noises at swimmers, and others being told they were "getting a lard arse".

The allegations came as Swimming Australia deals with the aftermath of Groves's withdrawal from the national trials and her claim that there are "misogynistic perverts" in the sport.

"You can no longer exploit young women and girls, body shame or medically gaslight them and then expect them to represent you so you can earn your annual bonus," she tweeted.

Swimming Australia is setting up an independent panel to investigate issues relating to the experiences of women and girls in the sport.

"Swimming Australia reiterates that any form of shaming behaviour will not be tolerated across any level of swimming associated with our organisation," the statement read.

"It doesn't matter if this is at a home club level or a national arena. This is the clear policy of Swimming Australia."