I just have to comment on this ridiculous, embarrassing story about Kenrick Monk and Nick D’Arcy and ‘that photo’ taken in the United States.
And the embarrassment in this case is well and truly on the media for making this a story, and the Australian Olympic Committee (and Swimming Australia) for its weak, sad and reactionary approach to the whole situation.
There’s a few things I don’t get here. Firstly, the photos of Monk and D’Arcy brandishing weapons at a gun shop were posted on Facebook.
Who took them off Facebook and made this a story in the first place? It’s not as though the pair issued a press release or posed for a newspaper photographer.
Secondly, nobody has explained as yet exactly what Monk and D’Arcy did wrong, or if the same punishment would have applied had D’Arcy in particular not been in trouble in the past.
The revelation that swimmers went to a shooting range for a bonding session only a few years ago just adds to the embarrassment of our Olympic officials.
At some point during this whole process someone should have stood up, taken a stance and exposed this whole story for what it is: a classic media beat-up.
You, me and thousands of others would have posed for the same photo in the same circumstances. It wasn’t illegal, heck, it wasn’t even questionable.
The only question that exists in this whole situation is this: so what?
The media, Swimming Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee all should have asked that question before they brought embarrassment and ridicule upon themselves.
