June 06, 2008

Swimmer Nick D'Arcy has won the legal right to mix and train with prospective Olympic teammates after a magistrate altered his bail conditions.

D'Arcy's legal team successfully argued for the lifting of a condition that he not contact or associate with certain Olympic swim team members, including world record holders Stephanie Rice, Eamon Sullivan and close friend Kenrick Monk.

D'Arcy, 20, faces a charge of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm to retired swimmer Simon Cowley, who suffered serious facial injuries when he was struck at a celebration party on March 30, a few hours after the naming of the team.

AOC president John Coates dumped D'Arcy from the Olympic team but the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) subsequently ruled that while D'Arcy had broken team rules by bringing himself into disrepute, Coates himself did not have the authority to drop him.

It said that decision must be made by the AOC board, which will meet next Wednesday to hear D'Arcy's side of the story.

“There is no longer any legal impediment which would prevent my client from continuing to be a member of the team,” D'Arcy's lawyer Jack Leitner said.

“The condition that he not approach or contact other team members has been deleted.

“He is at liberty to associate with and contact those persons so long as he does not discuss the charge with any of them.”

Although D'Arcy is considered to have only a slim chance of swimming in Beijing, the magistrate's ruling solves a potential logistical nightmare for Olympic officials.

He would have had to travel and train separately from the rest of the team in Beijing and at a training camp in Kuala Lumpur in late July.

Leitner will accompany D'Arcy when he appears before the AOC executive next Wednesday.

Coates has disqualified himself from the meeting, which will be chaired by AOC vice-president Ron Harvey.

Among the 14 board executives hearing D'Arcy's statement will be veteran IOC members Kevan Gosper and Phil Coles, and Olympians Peter Montgomery, Michael Wenden, Lynne Bates, Nick Green, Vikki Roberts and Tom King.

D'Arcy, who is due to appear in court in Sydney on June 17, has said that he was acting in self-defence.