SYDNEY: A group of swimmers who took sleeping drugs and played pranks on their female team-mates before last year’s London games have avoided further punishment from the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC).
The AOC ruled yesterday the fines handed to the six members of the men’s relay team, including newly-crowned world champion James Magnussen, by Swimming Australia were “proportionate and sufficient”.
But AOC chief John Coates warned the swimmers -- Eamon Sullivan, Matt Targett, James Roberts, Tommaso D’Orsogna, Cameron McEvoy and Magnussen -- that any further conduct which brought swimming into disrepute would result in them being banned for selection from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
It follows an AOC investigation, led by barrister Bret Walker, into the conduct of the swimming section of the Australian Olympic team at the 2012 London Games.
The investigation found the relay swimmers were in breach of their team agreement.
The exact amount of the fines handed out to the swimmers remains confidential but Coates said they were docked a percentage of their athlete support payments by Swimming Australia.
The AOC said that any further conduct which brought the swimmers or their sport into disrepute was likely to make them ineligible for selection in 2016.
“This is the yellow card,” Coates told reporters.
Coates said the AOC inquiry also found that the team’s former head coach Leigh Nugent had breached his team agreement obligations for failing to investigate the circumstances of the incidents when they were raised with him. AFP
