nick d'arcy has announced his retirement from

Has there been a more ordinary individual swimmer to represent Australia? King hits a fellow team member, gets found guilty . Somehow nothing happens, rather than pay compensation he declares himself bankrupt. To think they are going to let some psycho like him become a doctor, it doesn't say much for the profession.




Controversial Australian swimmer Nick D'Arcy has announced his retirement from the sport.

D'Arcy's Career

March 2008 - Sets an Australian 200m butterfly record on way to gaining Olympic selection.
March 2008 - Charged with assault of fellow swimmer Simon Cowley.
April 2008 - Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) drops D'Arcy from Olympic squad.
June 2008 - Appeal against axing to Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) fails.
March 2009 - Receives suspended jail sentence for Cowley assault.
April 2009 - Dropped from Australian team for World Swimming Championships.
March 2010 - Qualifies for Delhi Commonwealth Games, where he fails to qualify for the final.
June 2011 - Beats Olympic champion Michael Phelps in US swim meet.
December 2011 - Declares bankruptcy, unable to pay $180,000 compensation to Cowley.
March 2012 - Selected for London Olympic team.
June 2012 - D'Arcy and fellow swimmer Kenrick Monk face sanctions after putting photos of the pair posing with guns on social media.
July 2012 - Knocked out at semi-final stage of 200m butterfly.
October 2013 - Retires from swimming.
D'Arcy represented Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, and last year's Olympics in London.

But the 26-year-old Queenslander's career was tainted by his assault of former swimmer Simon Cowley in a Sydney bar, that led to his dumping from the 2008 Beijing Olympic team.

He pleaded guilty to a grievous bodily harm charge, and later declared bankruptcy when he was sued by Cowley.

Nick D'Arcy says it was a tough decision he's been weighing up over the past six months and he will now pursue a medical career.

"It's been something I've been thinking about for a while now," D'Arcy said.

"Obviously it's not a small decision so it's one that I've been weighing up for the past six months or so - but yeah I finally got around to I suppose making a decision.

"Obviously it's pretty difficult to leave such an important part of your life behind, but I think that's one of the things you've got to do when you're moving onto new things."

D'Arcy's former coach Brian Stehr said the butterfly swimmer's potential was never fully realised.

"I think it's a shame that we didn't see the best of Nick quite frankly, even though at one point in time he was ranked number one in the world," Stehr said.

"I mean Nick was very strong mentally, and that's certainly what got him through that but he had some things that came out of that that impacted on him emotionally over that time.

"That would have affected his preparation for those major events for sure."

Topics: swimming, sport, brisbane-4000, qld, australia


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-23/darcy-quits-swimming/5039788?section=sport