The Australian Olympic boss John Coates has defended the selection of disgraced swimmer Nick D'Arcy in Australia's team for the London Games amid reports Swimming Australia has done a deal allowing D'Arcy to return to the national team.
Mr Coates says it's a pity the controversy has resurfaced in the lead-up to July's 2012 Olympic Games and he understands how D'Arcy had polarised public opinion.
But he says they're satisfied that he's learnt his lesson and he understands the standards required to be a member of their team.
D'Arcy missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics and a subsequent world championships after being charged and eventually convicted of an assault in which he king-hit fellow swimmer Simon Cowley in a Sydney bar in 2008.
Last year a judge in a civil case ordered D'Arcy to pay Cowley more than 400 thousand dollars in damages and costs but D'Arcy declared himself bankrupt.
This led to speculation Swimming Australia might drop him from the London team on the grounds that he had failed to meet ethical standards.
But Swimming Australia nominated him after he met the qualifying standard, and Mr Coates says an AOC selection committee has received legal advice that D'Arcy's bankruptcy didn't constitute bringing him into disrepute under the terms of the team agreement.
The swimming body denies a report in Fairfax newspapers that Swimming Australia had done a "secret deal" allowing D'Arcy back into the team.
