D'Arcy back in pool chasing Olympic dream

AN emotional Nick D'Darcy declared being on the Australian Olympic team meant everything to him as he returned to training today for the first time since being charged with assault.

D'Arcy's coach Brian Stehr has challenged the 20-year-old swimmer to shave a second off his best 200m butterfly time as he awaits an Australian Olympic Committee decision on whether he'll be allowed to compete in Beijing in August.

Despite suffering from a viral infection, D'Arcy got back to work with Stehr at their Sunshine Coast, Queensland, base determined to keep his Olympic dream alive.

The AOC has been conducting its own investigation after D'Arcy was charged with assaulting former swimmer Simon Cowley at a Sydney nightspot hours after being named on the Olympic team following last month's Games trials.

It has the power to kick him out if it finds he has brought the team into disrepute.

Stehr stressed it was an important step for D'Arcy to return to the water and channel all his energies into training flat out in the hope the AOC would not block his Beijing goal.

"I believe he can go another second faster which would be good enough to get him into medal contention at least,'' Stehr said after D'Arcy's first training swim.

"Nick's very tough mentally and physically.

"You have to be tough to do what he does, in the pool that is.

"I don't think all this is going to necessarily impact on his performance in a negative way. If anything, it's more likely to have the opposite effect.''

D'Arcy, who is listed to appear in court on April 21, admitted he felt trapped in some kind of time warp as he battled his roller-coaster Olympic ride.

"It's something I've wanted to do all my life, it's just a dream .... how do you describe a dream?'' a choked up D'Arcy told reporters.

"I can't even fathom that I'm on the team still at the moment, it's a little twilight-ish.

"It means everything to me.''

Stehr said it was difficult to gauge how his young charge was dealing with his world being turned upside down.

"But if he can get through this and continues on with his mission to swim at the Olympics, I'd have to say he's more determined than ever to do something special over there,'' he said.

"If it's possible, he's got even greater determination than he had before.

"He's already proved he should be there and now's he's just trying to put all this rubbish behind him and get on with his life.''

Stehr said the support D'Arcy had received from his ``pool family'' had been tremendous in helping him cope with the stress.

"He's had great support locally from friends around the coast and his training partners - that's certainly helped him through,'' he said.

"The picture that's been portrayed of Nick gives the impression he's just a boozer and a thug.

"Anyone that knows him knows that's a long way from being anywhere near the truth.

"He unfortunately found himself in a situation as many of us have in our younger years that we reacted to.

"We're trying to be optimistic about the whole thing.

"Getting him back in the water today was an important thing for him at this point.

"Whether it's futile, we just don't know.''

While AOC president John Coates returned from Beijing this week, D'Arcy may have to wait until August before knowing his Games fate - just days before the Olympics start.

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