D’Arcy's Injustice

Nick D’Arcy. He still hasn’t competed at a major international meet yet he is already one of our most recognised swimmers. Now we’ve found out that for the second time he has been kicked out of an Australian team he fairly qualified for. Justice or a joke?

Personally I think this is a joke. Granted what he did to Cowley just over a year ago was terrible but he has already paid his price. How many times can or should someone be punished for one big mistake?

From an athlete’s perspective being denied the chance to go to an Olympic Games is probably as good as being sent to jail. I dare say he would have happily spent a month or two in jail for the chance to compete in Beijing. But now our countries best ever 200m Butterfly swimmer may give away the sport without the chance to show the world what he can do!

A lot of people seem to think he doesn’t deserve the right to represent Australia, or that they don’t want a criminal representing them. Fact is he has and does deserve his spot in the team, and his national record means he has already achieved a lot more than most of these people ever will. Results are undeniable.

As a swimming fan I would rather see our strongest team overseas than a team weakened because of pressure from the media and the do-gooders of society.

Swimming is all about speed. It doesn’t matter how much we hate the guy out of the pool in it he is our best and deserves the right to be with the team he qualified for in Rome. Obviously this isn’t going to happen. But I hope D’Arcy keeps swimming; I hope he wins the Commonwealth Games gold next year and then wins in London 2012 in World Record time. I hope even more that he does all this representing Australia!