D'Arcy may never swim again

Nick D'Arcy is set to walk away from swimming and return to university if his expected appeal against expulsion from the Australian Olympic team is unsuccessful.

D'Arcy was weighing up his options after being thrown off the Beijing Games team for his alleged assault on former Commonwealth swimming champion Simon Cowley in Sydney last month.

Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates informed D'Arcy of the devastating decision by fax after an AOC investigation into the 20-year-old's nightclub altercation with Cowley just hours after being nominated for the 2008 Games on March 29.

D'Arcy is facing charges of assault and assault occasioning grievous bodily harm for his alleged attack on Cowley, who suffered a broken jaw, broken nose, fractured eye socket, crushed cheekbone and fractured palate in the incident.

D'Arcy is due to appear in a Sydney court on Monday and, although Coates said D'Arcy was "entitled to the presumption of innocence and the charges must be proved beyond reasonable doubt", he deemed his conduct had brought "swimming, the team and the AOC into disrepute and censure".

While Australian swimming icon Dawn Fraser believed D'Arcy had the ability to make a comeback, coach Brian Stehr feared Coates' decision had probably ended his charge's swimming career.

D'Arcy had 48 hours from the time of the decision to declare his intention to lodge an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and then five more days to officially lodge the necessary paperwork.

If his likely appeal fails, or indeed he decides not to challenge the AOC decision, D'Arcy will return to university to study science and and may eventually pursue a career in medicine.

"I really believe that (he will give it away)," Stehr said. "Nick's put his university on hold for a while now and he'll return to his university studies."

Coates said he was expressing no view on the outcome of the upcoming criminal proceedings against D'Arcy, but admitted he had considered his "conduct in a number of respects given widespread media coverage of incidents in which he was reportedly involved" in addition to the alleged assault on Cowley.

Queensland ironman Tim Peach also claims he had his nose broken by D'Arcy 18 months ago, while the swimmer also reportedly threatened dual Olympian Ray Boyd and his son Matt two years ago when angered about a friendship Matt had entered with a woman who had previously been involved with D'Arcy.

"It goes without saying that the reputation of the sport of swimming, the Olympic team and the Australian Olympic Committee is of the highest level in this country and must remain so," Coates said.

"Membership of the team is a privilege to enjoy and the standards expected of our athletes is extremely high because of the public reputation which has been established and maintained by our Olympians over many years."

Swimming Australia chief Glenn Tasker said his organisation supported the AOC's stance, but Cowley's father Peter, while aware of the decision, was reticent to comment "because it's all subject to a legal matter".

D'Arcy also declined to comment on his axing after going surfing with friends when the ruling was being handed down.

"(This) decision has come as a huge disappointment to Nick, to his family, and to all his supporters and after years of hard work in preparation towards this Olympic dream," his father Justin said.

Coach Stehr was far more forthcoming, condemning the decision as "unfair".

"I think it amounts to a penalty that basically affects him for the rest of his life and that's not fair," Stehr said.

"It doesn't give him an opportunity to move forward from this and show his true character."

He said D'Arcy, who will not be replaced on the team, had been subjected to a "trial by media".

"A lot of the media reports were unfortunately slanted in a way and painted a picture that was not accurate," Stehr said.

"I think one of the headlines called him a 'swim thug' and he's not. He never goes out looking for trouble - unfortunately it's found him on a couple of occasions in his life."

Fraser, who had her own brushes with controversy during her illustrious career, also agreed with the AOC decision but backed D'Arcy to bounce back.

"He's a swimmer, he's got a strong mental attitude - which you've got to have to be a swimmer - and I think D'Arcy could overcome this," she said.

Even if D'Arcy makes his way back onto the team, he faces a nigh impossible task triumphing in Beijing.

The 200-metres butterfly for which he qualified is American superstar Michael Phelps' pet event and D'Arcy would need to improve his PB by some four seconds to challenge.

so next time a footballer bashes somebody do you think will get banned, NO CHANCE.

how do you know he bashed a innocent kid?, we dont know the full story, he never got a fair trial, its a joke.

He has been banned from going to the Olympic games not from swimming forever. If the Australian Olympic committee have made this decision prior to the court case being held then it can be assumed that they have enough evidence of his guilt or surely they would be held to redicule if Darcy was found to be innocent of the charges. We cannot compare what our footballers get away with to this case, for the reason that AFL is only played in Australia and will never have the same strict code of honour that people performing in the Olympics have to abide by. The Olympics is a world stage to which the rest of the world rightly or wrongly will judge our country by the type of atheletes that are representing us.

he has still been hard done by.

who gives a shit what the world thinks - hey is china going to participate in the olympics despite whats going on in china,is the world going to boycott the olympics because of tibet,NO CHANCE.

at the end of the day it might be self defense,who knows,so to ban him so early is a bit tough on the bloke.

D'Arcy case adjourned until June

April 21, 2008 SWIMMER Nick D'Arcy was ordered not to approach or contact Olympic team swimmer Stephanie Rice and four others as his assault case was adjourned until June 17.

Dressed in a dark grey suit with a dark tie and white shirt, D'Arcy arrived at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Monday morning to face charges of assaulting former swimmer Simon Cowley. His father Justin and legal team arrived with him.

D'Arcy, 20, was facing two charges of assault and grievous bodily harm but that was changed by the Director of Public Prosecutions and he is now facing one charge of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm on Cowley.

Cowley suffered a broken jaw, broken nose, fractured eye socket, crushed cheekbone and fractured palate in an altercation in Sydney last month.

In a brief hearing, Rhonda Ianna, for the DPP, requested a change in D'Arcy's bail conditions that he was no longer able to contact Rice in addition to four other unnamed witnesses that he is unable to contact.

In court, an emotionless but attentive D'Arcy spoke little, only answering "yes" when the magistrate asked him to confirm his name and if he was aware of the single charge against him.

After the changes to the bail conditions, the matter was adjourned and D'Arcy, his father and lawyer left the court.

Outside the court, D'Arcy said he remained hopeful of a positive outcome in his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to have his dumping from the Australian Olympic team to the Beijing Games overturned.

"I'm still pretty optimistic about the outcome," he said, adding he was still 100 per cent committed to competing Beijing.

D'Arcy said he was not sure what would happen to his swimming career if he did not get to the Beijing Games.

"My swimming career would take a turn for the worse if I didn't make Beijing," he said.

"I'd really have to re-evaluate where I'm at.

"I'm still in the water and I'm still training.

"Obviously I'm pretty hopeful that I'll get a positive outcome of the appeal but yes, we'll find out shortly."

D'Arcy's lawyer Jack Leitner confirmed the swimmer had lodged an appeal to the CAS in a bid to have the decision to cut him from the Olympic team overturned.

He again stated D'Arcy's request that he not be "tried by the media" over the case.

"My client will be vigorously pursuing these charges," Mr Leitner said.

"The defence will be strong (and) my client respects the court's and police's determination of this matter thus far."

"We stress again not to be tried by media and (that they) respect his rights for a fair trial."

The original charges against D'Arcy were amended to a single charge at the DPP's request because they had been incorrectly laid.

The alleged incident with Cowley happened as D'Arcy celebrated his naming on the Olympic team for Beijing following last month's Games trials.

The Queensland swimmer has since been booted off the team, with Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) boss John Coates last week saying the charges against D'Arcy had brought the sport into disrepute.

D'Arcy loses appeal
May 28, 2008

NICK D'Arcy has lost his appeal to be reinstated into Australia's Olympic swimming team for the Games in Beijing.

D'Arcy, who qualified to compete in the 200m butterfly, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, after he was dumped from the national team on April 18.

He was dropped from the team after being charged with assaulting former swimmer Simon Cowley in a Sydney nightclub, with the Australian Olympic Committee finding him guilty of bringing himself and the sport of swimming into disrepute.

But CAS endorsed the AOC decision by finding that D'Arcy hadn't observed "the provisions of the AOC Ethical Behaviour By-Law".

Justice Henric Nicholas, the president of the CAS panel, found that D'Arcy "did not meet the conditions of Clause 2(8) of the Membership Agreement between himself and the Australian Olympic Committee Inc".

D'Arcy, 20, still faces a criminal charge of recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm on Commonwealth champion swimmer Simon Cowley.

The charge stems from an altercation between the pair at a Sydney bar hours after D'Arcy was announced as part of Australia's swimming team for the Beijing Games from August 8-24.

Cowley suffered a broken jaw, broken nose, fractured eye socket, crushed cheekbone and fractured palate in the incident. He is yet to speak publicly on the matter.

D'Arcy's court case has been adjourned until June 17.

The potential punishment for criminal offences, including a jail term, is unlikely to be handed down before the Olympics.

mmm Looks like hes not going to the olympics

its only ok if a dumb footballers play up

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.

June 11, 2008

THE Australian Olympic Committee has voted unanimously to sack swimmer Nick D'Arcy from its Beijing Games team.

But D'Arcy said he will again appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

"I will appeal, it is already in the works,'' D'Arcy said after he was told of the AOC's decision.

The AOC executive rejected a submission from D'Arcy and his legal team that he was a fit and proper person to represent his country at the Olympics.

Chairman of the meeting, AOC vice-president Ron Harvey, said the members took into account the standards of behaviour expected of an Australian Olympian.

"To terminate the membership of an athlete from the Australian Olympic team is a very serious matter,'' he said.

"After careful consideration we have reached a decision based on that responsibility.''

The ruling restored an initial decision made in April by AOC president John Coates, which was subsequently overturned by the CAS after the swimmer appealed.

D'Arcy is due in court next week to answer a charge of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm to retired swimmer Simon Cowley, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail.

D'Arcy said he would continue training for the Beijing Games until every last option open to him was exhausted.