Bashing + Bankrupt = London2012

Bash your competition

Declare yourself bankruptcy to avoid paying the $180,000 damages

And then get rewarded a ticket to the London Olympics.




A role model for all to follow.

Revealed: Nick D'Arcy's secret deal

How the disgraced swimmer could smash this face and still represent Australia

SWIMMING AUSTRALIA struck a secret deal with the disgraced butterfly star Nick D'Arcy to allow him to return to the national team, says the Commonwealth Games triple gold medallist Simon Cowley.

Cowley, 31, a breaststroke champion whose face was rebuilt after D'Arcy king-hit him in a Sydney bar in 2008, says Swimming Australia's chief executive, Kevin Neil, told him of the deal in 2009. According to Cowley, Neil said: ''I'm telling you this but if you ever repeat it - ever try to tell anyone - I'll flat out deny it.''

D'Arcy, 24, is a serious contender for a medal at the London Olympics but his inclusion in the team has polarised opinion.

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King hit ... Simon Cowley immediately after the attack. Photo: Channel Nine
Sacked from the team for the 2008 Olympics, he was also barred from the 2009 world championships in Rome after he pleaded guilty to assaulting Cowley.

Last year a judge in a civil case ordered him to pay Cowley more than $370,000 in damages and costs, but D'Arcy declared himself bankrupt, prompting speculation that swimming's governing body might drop him from contention for London on the grounds that he had failed to meet the behavioural and ethical standards it demands of team members.

D'Arcy said then he was confident his bankruptcy would not be held against him. Cowley says his optimism was well-founded: ''The reason he wasn't worried about it was he'd already done a deal with Swimming Australia, and Swimming Australia had no option but to endorse him.''

Cowley says he got a phone call from Neil soon after Swimming Australia barred D'Arcy from the 2009 world championships, and that Neil told him D'Arcy had threatened to sue the organisation because he had previously been assured by the then head coach, Alan Thompson, that he would be permitted to swim.

Cowley says Neil told him that in exchange for D'Arcy dropping the threat of legal action, Swimming Australia had shelved its judiciary committee's inquiry into D'Arcy's behaviour and guaranteed he would be welcome on future teams.

D'Arcy's father, Justin, denied this week there was any threat to sue or that any deal was done. Swimming Australia and Neil had no comment.

Thompson, now the general manager of football operations at the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, confirmed he told D'Arcy there would be no impediment to his swimming in Rome. ''I'd been given that information from senior officials at Swimming Australia,'' Thompson said.



http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/olympics-2012/revealed-nick-darcys-secret-deal-2...

No reason why he should be prevented from following his dreams. He's been punished enough (more than enough IMO)

But theres a lesson to be learnt in all of this - If that pussy Cowley hadn't tried to be a big shot and slapped Darcy across the face, his face would still be in one piece and Darcy would probably have a gold medal on his mantelpiece.

So kids, before you go picking fights, just stop and think.