Students sink D'Arcy

by Rachael Hughes

April 8, 2008

MURDOCH University students have spoken out on Olympic swimmer Nick D’Arcy, who on March 30 was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on former Olympian Simon Cowley.

Many students said the 20-year-old butterflyer should lose his spot on the Olympic team - in line with consequences faced by fallen footy star Ben Cousins.

Cowley is awaiting surgery for severe head injuries. D’Arcy withdrew from the upcoming world short course championships shortly after the alleged incident, but Murdoch students say he should be prevented from competing in Beijing this August.

Richard Murphy, 19, believed D’Arcy should not be allowed to swim in China.

“I don’t think he should be allowed to compete ...,” Mr Murphy said. “Swimmers should be treated the same, it’s just unfortunate that it is the Olympics.”

Rebecca Robbins, 20, shared a similar view, linking the D’Arcy case to that of Ben Cousins.

 “If you look at the Ben Cousins case, he was banned from playing football for a year and he only represents Western Australia,” she said, “but the swimmer will be representing Australia on a world scale.”

Morgan Pettersson, 18, was one of the few Murdochians who supported D’Arcy. She said he should be penalised if found guilty, but should not lose his shot at representing Australia.

“Swimmers are usually seen as cleaner sportsmen ...,” Ms Pettersson said, “but he has earned his place in the side and should be allowed to go to the Olympics.”