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Right: Nick D'arcy, surrounded by reporters and his lawyers, after the decision of John Coates to ban him from the Beijing Olympics was supported by the Olympic Committee .


Arguments against Nick D'Arcy having been banned from the  2009 World Swimming Championships

1.  D'Arcy has already been punished for his assault on Cowley
Those who oppose Nick D'Arcy being banned from the World Championships in Rome claim the penalty is unjust as D'Arcy has already been punished for his assault on Simon Cowley through his omission last year from the Australian Olympic swimming team.
Nick D'Arcy's father, Justin D'Arcy, has claimed that he can not understand Swimming Australia's decision given the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) had already punished his son by cutting him from the Beijing team.
Mr D'Arcy has stated, 'It is now seemingly a matter of every other sporting body that's subordinate to (the AOC) just lining up in queue to punish him for precisely the same thing. I don't know when it is going to finish, frankly.'
One unnamed member of the Australian swim team has similarly stated, 'He has earned his place on the Australian team two times in a row now and I just don't know what he has to do to be selected on a team.
He has been punished once for that and we've signed a new contract since then and I thought he could be part of the team.  There's convicted criminals in a lot of other sports going around.'
D'Arcy's coach Brian Stehr said he felt D'Arcy had been 'indefinitely' suspended by Swimming Australia.
Mr Stehr stated, 'He has been hammered for the last 12 months. He's been kicked off the (Beijing) Olympic team, given a criminal conviction, now this - how long does it go on for?...
It's pretty amazing that they (Swimming Australia) take that position given that he has already been punished.'
In an article published in The Sydney Morning Herald in April 11, 2009, Miranda Devine stated, 'When will it end? Losing his Olympic dream was a fitting poolside punishment for D'Arcy. His criminal conviction will have lifelong consequences. He has apologised to Cowley.
That is where it should have ended, with a clean slate, and an opportunity to redeem himself. Instead, D'Arcy keeps paying the piper.'

2.  Swimming Australia should not have allowed D'Arcy to train and try out for the world championships if it intended to ban him.
It has been claimed that Swimming Australia has effectively misled Nick D'Arcy by allowing him to continue training and to try out for the World Championships despite the apparent  likelihood that he would again be banned.
Brian Stehr, Nick D'Arcy's coach, has said he was angry Swimming Australia had strung D'Arcy along, letting him train then qualify for the Rome titles without telling him that he could be dropped under their by-laws due to his conviction.
'Nick was always going to be convicted because he pleaded guilty,' Stehr said. 'Why did they allow him to be selected on the team only to take it away from him again - it just amazes me.'
One unnamed member of the Australian swimming team has agreed that D'Arcy had been misled into believing that he could redeem himself if he turned his life around with a commitment to swimming.
The swimmer has stated, 'Maybe if he had have known and found this out a year ago he could have not kept on swimming all year and actually moved forward with his life.'
Former world champion swimmer and Olympic medallist Matt Welsh has said Swimming Australia should have banned Nick D'Arcy from swimming rather than allowing him to believe he might be a part of the World Championship team to go to Rome.
Matt Welsh has stated, 'I think Swimming Australia should have done something earlier.  I know they had to wait for the (court) case to be finalised but if they could have given (D'Arcy) a time frame, some sort of ban or time out from the sport, then at least he'd know and not have been strung along.'

3.  D'Arcy has expressed remorse and is trying to modify his behaviour
Immediately after the altercation with Simon Cowley, Nick D'Arcy stated, 'I deeply regret my involvement in this incident and the injury occasioned to Simon Cowley.
This was a night marked for celebration of the selection of the Australian Olympic swimming team.
I sincerely regret the embarrassment caused to Australian swimming, the Australian Olympic swimming team and to my family.'
On the Nine Network's 'A Current Affair' program, D'Arcy apologised for injuring Cowley.  He stated, 'Obviously it was a very serious situation, one that I am very sorry for, and I think it's a situation you carry around for the rest of your life.
If I could go back and change it, I would. It was a situation I would never, never have intended myself to be in.'
D'Arcy has admitted to problems with binge drinking and impulse control, and said he visits a psychologist once a week to deal with his anger management issues.
Outside the magistrates court where he was found guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm and given a suspended sentence, D'Arcy said he was sorry about what he had done to Cowley and hoped that the breaststrokes would one day be able to forgive him.
D'Arcy further said, 'And while I'm on the topic of apologies I would also like to apologise to the Australian public as I'm aware that this had a detrimental affect on them as well.
I'd just like to say that today's sentence of a 14-month suspended sentence is very serious and I will be complying with all the directions that were given to me by the courts.
And I'd just like to say to others of my age that this is a situation that none of us need to find ourselves in and we just  need to watch our drinking and we obviously need to watch our behaviour when we are out and about.
I now have a job to do and that is to return to my study, return to my swimming and comply with all the magistrate's requests.'

4.  D'Arcy claims he acted in self-defence
Nick D'Arcy's lawyer, Jack Leitner, has stated that his client acted defensively when approached by Cowley.
'It is true that there was a physical altercation between Simon Cowley and my client, whereupon without any warning Simon Cowley slapped my client to the face,' Leitner said. 'Cowley then attempted to introduce himself and approached my client shortly thereafter and my client, fearing another strike, responded by punching Cowley once to the face.'
John Favretto was the magistrate who heard the case against Nick D'Arcy.  Mr Favretto has said the damage done Simon Cowley was extreme because D'Arcy was an elite swimmer with considerable upper body strength.
Mr Favretto stated, 'While there was only one punch, it must have been with considerable force given the extent of the injury.'  But Favretto also pointed out that D'Arcy had been provoked by Cowley, who had slapped his face or head a few seconds before he lashed out. This was in the statement of facts before the court and was agreed to by Cowley and his lawyers.
'It was a case of self-defence, there is no doubt about that,' Favretto told the court. 'It is just the level of response. He is a young man, a very fit young man. It is not that he necessarily used excessive force ... sometimes it's how the punch is thrown.'

5.  The Australian Olympic Committee has been inconsistent
D'Arcy's legal team has argued that the AOC had been inconsistent in their ruling because they had allowed an Australian boxer, Peter Wakefield, to compete at the 2004 Olympics while he was on bail facing serious assault charges.  Wakefield, who was allowed to compete in Greece while on bail after being charged with assault on his sister's boyfriend. Wakefield was later convicted and jailed.
When Nick D'Arcy was banned from the Australian team to go to the Beijing Olympics, Australian Olympic swimmer, Kenrick Monk, a friend of D'Arcy's stated , ' What's happened in the past with other athletes in similar situations [is they] are allowed to go.  It just shows there are rules for swimmers and rules for other athletes, so it is a bit disappointing, isn't it?
It's upsetting to see a good friend like that get his dream thrown into his face ... I'm just disappointed with their decision. It's one of those upsetting days in a sporting career, but we do move on and we look at the future, don't we?'