The Ongoing Punishment of Nick D'Arcy

It’s not easy to feel sorry for Nick D’Arcy. The guy is his own worst enemy and his actions in the wake of the Australian Olympic qualifying trials, that is elbowing fellow swimmer Simon Cowley in the face, cannot be condoned or excused in any way.

But, you do have to wonder just how many times D’Arcy is to be punished for his crime.

He lost his place in the Australian Olympic Team because of the incident, having brought himself and his team into disrepute. Fair enough.

D’Arcy then had to face court where, after he entered a guilty plea, he was convicted and given a 14-month suspended sentence. That indiscretion will live with him through the rest of his life.

Now Swimming Australia has decided to drop D’Arcy from the team to go to the Rome World Swimming Championships. Apparently, SA found that it would be detrimental to the team if someone with a serious criminal history were to participate.

There are so many problems with this stance that it’s difficult to know where to begin.

Firstly, D’Arcy had a moment of madness when he was drunk. There’s no excuse for that, but to describe it as a serious criminal history makes him sound like he committed a string of armed robberies.

Secondly, D’Arcy pleaded guilty in November 2008 and therefore was always going to be convicted. Why the hell did Swimming Australia not tell him there and then that he would not be eligible to be part of the team?

Worse still, why select him for the team if the intention was always to preclude him. That’s bordering on vindictiveness.

Finally, there’s the whole "double jeopardy" feel to the treatment of D’Arcy. He was dropped from the Olympic squad, which is possibly the harshest punishment that you can hand out to an athlete, why punish him again?

Athletes need to unwind. The discipline and dedication to compete at the highest level cannot be maintained without occasional release.

In Australia that usually means drinking. For others—Michael Phelps, for example—a more herbal approach is taken.

Besides, we Aussies celebrate criminals.

One of our great folk heroes, Ned Kelly, was a kind of Robin Hood, except he robbed from the rich and then kept it. He also robbed from the poor and kept that too.

Our spiritual national anthem, Waltzing Matilda, is a song about a bloke who stole sheep and committed suicide rather than face the law. Imagine how he would have reacted if he had to face Swimming Australia.

And let’s not forget why Australia was colonised.

Nick D’Arcy is not the first person to do something stupid while drunk. Most of us probably don’t go beyond photocopying our butt at the office Christmas party, but alcohol is responsible for many, many stupid acts.

Living with the consequences of those acts is difficult enough without some external body continuously finding new ways to punish you for it.

It’s time for Swimming Australia to either let D’Arcy get on with what he does best or at least have the decency to tell him to go off and do something else with his life.