Category — Swimming

Here’s The Olympian Blog’s first rule in good manners and right conduct (GMRC): If you just qualified for the Olympics, don’t get drunk and elbow a fellow swimmer — or anyone for that matter — in the face.

This is the lesson we learn from the story of swimmer Nick D’Arcy who was dropped from Australia’s swimming team after his teammate Simon Cowley charged him with serious assault. Here’s Cowley with a bruised face (photo courtesy of news.com.au). You can read the report about the charge here.

D’Arcy plans to appeal his dumping so you can be sure we will have future posts on him. Do you think his remorseful puppy dog look in the photo below (courtesy of Sydney Morning Herald) will help him in his appeal?

We’re undecided whether Australia’s swimming authorities overreacted in kicking him out but we certainly do not condone his alleged act of violence.

By the way, what’s up with Australian swimmers, ba? Is there something wrong in the swimming pools Down There that make its Olympians go astray. We first reported about Scott Miller being charged with drug dealing. And then we have this D’Arcy vs. Cowley elbowing-in-the-face incident.

[Read more →]

Australia predicts that it’s medal haul in swimming during the Beijing Olympics will not be as good as its previous results. The problem? Seems like the guys (but not the gals) have not been delivering in recent international events.

From The Australian:

AUSTRALIA will need its men to lift their game to maintain its place in the top five nations on the medal tally in Beijing, according to research released by the Australian Olympic Committee yesterday.

The AOC’s medal projections, broken down by gender, reveal that Australian women are holding their place in the top five among their international competitors, but the men have dropped to eighth on results in the past year.

Last year’s rankings show that Australia is under heavy pressure from France, Britain and Italy.

[Read more →]