According to the Herald Sun, Aussie ‘bad boys’ Nick D’Arcy and Kenrick Monk “have sparked outrage after they posed with high-powered weapons in a US gun shop”, to the point where Swimming Australia demanded pictures taken off Facebook and issued this statement, promising a talk with the athletes upon return to Australia:
“Swimming Australia became aware of inappropriate photos posted on athlete Facebook pages and Twitter accounts this morning, and instantly contacted the athletes involved to ask for them to be removed under Swimming Australia’s Social Media Guidelines”
Now, I get the idea that these are guns “similar to those used in the Virginia Tech and Port Arthur massacres”. I also get that since those two are already ‘bad boys’ for other reasons, they should maybe be especially careful when doing stunts like these. I’m not a weapons man myself, have never owned even a BB gun, but still, for some reason I suddenly remember sentences like “guns don’t kill people, …”.
Even with strict gun laws like in Denmark and Norway, the crazed ones find ways to harm others. In the Faroes we have very relaxed gun laws, but thankfully next to none killed or harmed by them (or anything else) for decades. So, without further ado, here are ‘the darlings of Danish swimming‘ actually shooting big guns in Leadville.
Sorry if I offend anyone with these words, those who know me know that I cried my eyes out with the rest of you when all that Breivik mess happened last summer. But I’m sort of with D’Arcy and Monk on this one.
Via SwimNews
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In the matter of Nick Darcy, questions must arise as to whether the International Olympics Committee has tarnished its own reputation by failing to uphold its own values. The Olympic Charter, Chapter 5. II Eligibility Code, states that to be eligible a competitor must “respect the spirit of fair play and non violence, and behave accordingly.†In 2008 Nick D’Arcy assaulted swimming champion Simon Cowley. He was convicted in a criminal court and given a 14-month suspended jail sentence. In effect, a criminal court found D’Arcy violated ‘the spirit of…non violence’ through his violent actions. He was rightly taken off the Beijing Olympic team. In 2011, D’Arcy was ordered by a civil court to pay Simon Cowley $180,000 in compensation plus costs ($350k+). Later in October D’Arcy filed for bankruptcy; in effect, he brutally assaulted Simon Cowley then sent him back all his bills to nurse his life-long injuries. By any accounts this shows complete disregard for the notion of ‘fair play’. Some might wonder whether the IOC, the AOC, and Swimming Australia have lost sight of the true spirit of the Olympics by allowing this criminal to compete?
I didn’t realise that Swimming Australia forbid their swimmers to show an interest in other sports. Especially other olympic sports like shooting? I wonder what they’d think if Shooting Australia forbid the olympic shooters to show an interest in swimming?
I accept that D’Arcy and Monk might have a ‘bad boys’ label but in this particular case they really haven’t done anything wrong.