Some things really piss me off. Usually they involve an injustice; the powerful taking advantage of the weak; the strong rewarding themselves at the expense of the public; behaviour that decent societies recognise as corrupt. One such event has occurred this week. Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) announced the team to represent New Zealand at the 2018 World Short Course Championships in China. It is a big team of eighteen swimmers. Congratulations to every swimmer. Representing your country does not come easy. You have earned the respect of us all. Here are their names.

Along with the names of the selected swimmers SNZ announced that every team member would have to pay $5,300 towards the cost of getting to the World Championships. Just imagine that. Swimmers work hard year after year and finally get good enough to represent New Zealand at a World Championships and SNZ asks them to pay. Those swimmers have already paid. They have been paying with money and sweat for years and still Scrooge Cotterill, Scrooge Johns and Scrooge Francis ask for more.

That is no way to treat a national team attending a World Championships. It is desperately wrong in a number of ways.

New Zealand’s eighteen swimmers are about to meet swimmers from many different countries. Almost always they will be rubbing shoulders with swimmers who are rewarded by their countries with paid travel, accommodation, uniforms and possibly a daily allowance. The inevitable and desperate feeling of rejection is no way for a national team to approach a World Championship. “My country wouldn’t even pay for my uniform”, is not a thought any swimmer should have at a World Championships. Does my Federation care? Do Cotterill, Johns and Francis care about me? Not enough to pay a cent towards your trip is the answer. It is understandably hard to feel pride in your national cap when you know that SNZ made money out of selling it to you.

I have been fortunate enough to place swimmers on several national teams including Great Britain, New Zealand, the Virgin Islands, the USA and Saudi Arabia. Big or small, rich or poor New Zealand is the only one I have seen charge swimmers to attend a World Championship.

And finally, in my opinion, it is an obscene level of corruption when SNZ bureaucrats sit around in Antares Place drinking coffee, paying themselves handsome salaries and at the same time demand that swimmers pay to represent the country. I bet Steve Johns never paid to fly to Japan recently for a ceremonial junket. No of course he didn’t pay. After all, he is the great and the powerful Steve Johns. How dare we compare mere swimmers to his arrogant royal highness. The sense of entitlement is stunning. The master and slave relationship is impossible to avoid.

Today the six officials traveling with the team were announced; three coaches, a Manager, a Physiotherapist and – wait for the sound of celestial trumpets – Gary Francis. How much do you want to bet Francis is having the full cost of his trip paid by SNZ? That’s right, eighteen hard working and talented swimmers are required to pay while an Auckland age-group coach gets his junket for free.

It is a corrupt disgrace. Between them Johns and Francis earn the thick end of $300,000 in salaries at SNZ. How they sleep at night knowing that eighteen dedicated swimmers are paying their bloated wages is beyond my understanding. Those guys don’t care about New Zealand’s swimmers. The athletes are pawns in a game of executive privilege and greed.

The full horror of these events became apparent when I noticed the following page on the “Give-a-Little” website.

I desperately hope Emma Godwin raises the full $5,300 and more. She is a terrific backstroke swimmer with a cultured stroke to die for. I admire her initiative in asking for assistance. But I also believe she should not have to advertise on “Give-a-Little”. Raising travel money is a core duty of SNZ. If Cotterill, Johns and Francis can’t avoid the spectacle of having national representatives asking the public for money, then they should be replaced by others with superior values. Consider this; every week Johns and Francis are paid about $5,700. That’s more than the cost of getting Emma Godwin to the World Championships. Every week those two waste-of-space officials take more money out of the sport than it would cost to get Emma Godwin to the Championships. There is something desperately wrong with their values. Or perhaps they have no values.

The question is: has SNZ become an organisation that cares for Emma Godwin or does it pander to the greed of Johns and Francis? There is little doubt about who benefits the most right now.

In the meantime I recommend you go to Emma Godwin’s “Give-a-Little” page and chip in a few dollars. She deserves it. She needs the help and is not going to get it from the three Scrooges that run SNZ.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has been in the news today. The New Zealand Government launched a $10million strategy to encourage women to get involved in sport. Through the strategy, the Prime Minister said, she wants to see an increase in the involvement of women in sport at grass roots and elite levels. She also wants to encourage women to have a bigger influence in coaching and administration.

I was delighted to see the Prime Minister leading New Zealand sport forward. It is an initiative that is long overdue. I was especially pleased to see that the Government is looking for progress both on the field and in the areas of coaching and administration. For example today’s announcement included a requirement that every sport have a minimum of 40% female membership on their Boards.

That rule change is important. The presence of more women in Board Rooms will result in decisions that make sports more welcoming to female competitors. Remember it is not all that long ago that an Athletics New Zealand Board Member announced that no woman should be selected for the Olympics if a good man was available. There are still some copies of that Neanderthal around today.

The gender balance of swimming is however better than many sports. In fact female competitors usually outnumber males. The most recent figure I have seen was 58% in favor of women. With the exception of the Olympic Games clinging on to women racing 800 meters compared to 1500 meters for men the swim racing programs for men and women are identical. Why the Olympic movement should persist with the belief that women can’t race as far as men, I have no idea. Lauren Boyle seemed to swim the 1500 okay.

Not that swimming in New Zealand is perfect. The current Board has six members and only two of them are women. That’s 33% compared to the Government’s new requirement that women must total at least 40%. Jacinda is right. That needs to be fixed.

In March this year I did an analysis of the gender mix of all the Regional Boards. The table below shows the result of that study. Some of the numbers may have changed but this is what they were in March.

The SNZ Regions combined meet Jacinda’s 40% requirement. However within that pass mark the parent organization (33%) and four regions (Otago 0%, Nelson Marlborough 33%, Wellington 17% and Auckland 20%) fail the new gender balance test. That will need to be fixed before SNZ finds itself losing more of Jacinda’s money.

Women are also well represented in coaching New Zealand swimming. In fact some of New Zealand’s most successful coaches are women. Northwave in Whangarei, Waterhole and United in Auckland, HPK in Counties, Auabladz in New Plymouth and the North Canterbury Club in Rangiora are all coached by superbly talented women. It is a sad reflection on SNZ that in two decades of selecting eight National Coaches no female coach ever made the cut. SNZ always selected a male candidate.

The numbers appear to show that SNZ has a mixed record on gender issues. There is certainly no room for complacency. There are aspects of the sport that need vigilance and reform. I am acutely aware of these issues as a result of coaching women. In fact the majority of my most successful swimmers have been female. I have watched closely the journey of national representatives such as Toni Jeffs, Nichola Chellingworth, Jane Copland, Rhi Jeffrey, Penny Jones and Jane Ip. And it is not easy. The path women must walk to get to the top in swimming is more difficult than men. Women have to put up with daily rubbish that men never see or experience. That must change.

There are many small things that frustrate talented, hard working women. For example some of the women I have coached lifted very heavy weights. Just try doing 3×7 elbow raises with 45kgs or 3×7 chin-ups with 20kg tied to your waist, or 3×7 leg presses with 200kgs. It used to frustrate the life out of Toni, Jane and Rhi when men came up to them and said, “Be careful. That weight is too heavy for a girl.” It happens a lot, day after day and is terribly humiliating.

When I helping Alison with her track training I saw myself as being in the vanguard of liberal-thinking. I said things like, “You can train as hard as John Walker.” She did. She regularly completed her 10-week build-up, averaging 160 km or more each week.

And I was wrong. Discussing my enlightened views with Alan Laidler, lecturer in recreation and leisure studies at Victoria University, I was asked, “Why did you make the comparison? Why was it necessary to compare her performance with some man?” He was right. In setting up champion men as role models, I was as guilty of a serious put-down; as guilty as those who say, “You can’t train as hard as men. Do something less.”

I never make that comparison today. Gender is a non-relevant variable. Each athlete has to be taken as an individual. And so, on a day when the New Zealand Prime Minister has brought this issue to our attention there is cause to be vigilant; there is still much to do.

SwimVortex recently wrote a post on gender issues at the IOC. Their report concluded with this lovely and relevant piece of writing.

“So, women swimmers – and you blokes young and not quite so with your mothers, aunts, grandmas, sisters, girlfriends and wives about you – embrace this day that is yours, embrace the wag, the nag and the spirit of nevertheless she persisted and own the world you have a right to.”

I have mentioned before the accusations made against me that resulted in Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) ordering me to attend a three day hearing before a criminal psychotherapist. The allegations were pretty brutal. They were based on lies by two dissatisfied club members. Among other accusations they said I had encouraged female swimmers to get pregnant so they could take training advantage of the early pregnancy increase in blood volume. They also said I had forced female swimmers to attend an Auckland strip club. And they claimed I was a sexist bully.

Christian Renford, the CEO of SNZ assured me that because of the serious nature of the accusations I would be provided with the psychotherapist’s report. Otherwise I would never have agreed to the hearing. I have no complaints about the hearing. It was long. It was tough. But I felt it aimed at getting to the truth of the complaints. Mounting a defense against wild accusations of this nature is never easy. I was fortunate that one of my accusers chose to photograph a friend, topless in the girl’s changing room at the National Swimming Championships, and post the photographs on public social media. SNZ showed little interest in this clear breach of their rules, but the psychotherapist was clearly not impressed. Her photography certainly supported my argument that the accusations did not originate from a reliable or trustworthy source.

Sometime later, I am not sure when, the psychotherapist prepared a report and sent it to SNZ. I wrote to SNZ asking to be sent my copy, as promised by the CEO. SNZ wrote back declining my request. I asked the Privacy Commissioner to investigate and that is where we are at today. I do know that SNZ have asked their lawyer to deal with the Privacy Commissioner. I assume that means they know they are skating on very thin ice. And that is certainly true.

I intend to push this as far as I can in order to receive the psychotherapist’s report. It is beyond belief that anyone should be the subject of accusations of this nature, should have to sit through a three day hearing and be denied access to the result. The contempt shown by the SNZ Board and staff for justice, for what is right and decent, is beyond belief. Their behaviour is below contempt. Nothing can justify the disgusting decision taken by a clearly corrupt Board and senior staff. An organisation that is 60% funded by the state must obey the law. We all must obey the law. SNZ has not done this.

I am no lawyer. I have no legal training at all. But it does not take a Queens Council to know that denying an accused person their right to hear the result of their trial is illegal and a violation of a basic human right.

In fact it is a violation of a law that dates back over 800 years to 1215 and the signing of the Magna Carta. Clause 29 of the 1297 version of the Magna Carta guarantees the right to a free and fair trial.

So, according to the Magna Carta, I was entitled to a fair trial. Did this happen? Through the investigation and hearing I think it did. But what does twenty-first century law say about SNZ’s decision to deny me access to the final judgement? As it turns out my right to see the psychotherapist’s report has quite a bit of legal support. Let’s look at four of the issues involved.

Equality of Arms

The right to equality of arms forms an intrinsic part of the right to a fair hearing and means that there must at all times be a fair balance between the prosecution and the defence. At no stage of the proceedings must any party be placed at a disadvantage vis-à-vis his opponent. Quite obviously when SNZ have access to the final judgement and I do not, the principle of “equality of arms” has been violated. I have been placed at a disadvantage to the Board and staff of SNZ. The law does not allow that.

Publication of Judgements

As a minimum, every person charged has the right to the judgement being made public. Publicity of judgements is required “to ensure scrutiny of the judiciary by the public with a view to safeguarding the right to a fair trial”. Not only are SNZ violating this law, it is highly likely they are hiding the judgement because there is something in it they do not want the membership to see. SNZ stand guilty of the very reason the publicity law was designed to prevent. SNZ are as guilty as sin and we have a right to read what it is.

Reasons for Decisions

Hearings must, at all times, give reasons for their decisions. The accused person is entitled to receive a reasoned judgement within a reasonable time; such judgement is essential for the purpose of lodging appeals. Again I have clearly been denied this right. Just consider what would have happened if I had been punished as a result of this hearing. I would have had no basis for appeal; no justice. But would the SNZ Board or management care? Not if this decision is anything to go by.

Transcripts of the Trial

The law goes further than requiring the accused to receive the final judgement. By law an accused must be provided with transcripts of the hearing. Although I am not asking for that in this case, it does go to show the extent of SNZ duplicity in hiding the judgement of the hearing.

These rights form a part of what it means to provide a fair hearing in our society and in our sport. They constitute the foundation on which a society and a sport, respectful of human rights in general, including the rule of law, is built. But what do the SNZ Board or management care about that? If this case is anything to go by, not a lot is the answer. I think it is worth the fight to be sent the report. Today it is my fight. Tomorrow it might be yours.

One week ago the FBI issued indictments against seven Russian state officials on charges of illegal computer hacking. The officers, and by implication their government, were accused of hacking the doping records of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and included the theft and publication of many athlete’s private medical and doping histories. Clearly the information was intended to ruin the reputation of non-Russian athletes and was taken in retaliation to WADA’s attempts to sanction Russian state cheating.

Of equal concern to the behavior of the Russians is the deadly silence from WADA.  This is how the WADA reaction was reported on the Swimvortex Facebook page.

It is a very valid question. Clean athletes should not be forced to compete with Russian cheats. Russian cheats should not be nurtured and protected by the Russian state. Just because the President of Russia spends endless money on IOC and WADA junkets does not excuse his disgusting behavior. WADA has failed in its core responsibility to protect sport from the cancer of drug use.

But the face of WADA’s neglect lies closer to home than the WADA head office in Montreal, Canada. You see the new President of Swimming New Zealand (SNZ), Dave Gerrard, is also the Chairman of the WADA TUC Committee. Gerrard’s principal responsibility is to set the rules for athletes who find it necessary to take drugs for legitimate therapeutic reasons. Russian cheating and crimes are by no means therapeutic. However Gerrard is a senior member of the world’s leading drug agency and has a responsibility to ensure WADA acts properly.

Gerrard’s duty is further enhanced by his responsibilities to New Zealand swimming. I see he was interviewed last week on Radio Sport. He was full of ideas about the need for better coaching, improved learn-to-swim and the importance of competition in Australia. He was however remarkably silent on a subject that is already his responsibility. Not one word about Russian cheats or what he was going to do to sanction the representatives of the Russian state. I find it very difficult to have any respect for someone who happily criticises honest New Zealand coaches and stays silent about cheating Russians – especially when the job that rewards him handsomely, both as a WADA Chairman and the SNZ President, requires him to deal with the cheats. In my opinion Gerrard should clean up his own act before he starts poking sticks at hard working New Zealand coaches.

And it is not as though Russian cheats don’t affect the sport in New Zealand. Yes, of course I know that New Zealand swimming is struggling to keep up with world standards. Swimmers in New Zealand have enough problems with the sport’s rubbish New Zealand administration. It is unacceptable for their task to be made even more difficult by state sponsored cheating.

Dave Gerrard could improve the average New Zealand SC Champion’s world ranking by an average of eleven places just by doing his job. The table below shows the winner’s time for every event at last week’s New Zealand Short Course Championships. The next column shows the 2017/18 world ranking of that time. The fourth column shows the number of Russian cheats with times faster than the New Zealand winner. The final column then shows where the New Zealand Champion would rank if Dave Gerrard was actually working in the best interests of the sport in his home country.

As you can see the action of banning Russian swimmers would not only be the right thing to do but would improve the average world ranking of the New Zealand champion by 11 places from 93 in the world to 82. I accept this is still a poor result, but at least it would be fair. For a few events (200 men’s back, men’s 100 and 200 IM, women’s 1500, women’s 200 back, women’s 200 breast and women’s 100 IM) the improvement is very significant.

And so before Gerrard cracks on about New Zealand coaching it would serve him well to make sure he has done all he can to improve the world performance of New Zealand swimmers. Right now that is far from the case. In my opinion his WADA performance is hurting New Zealand swimmers badly. Doing nothing while cheats prosper is as bad as cheating yourself. Before Gerrard sounds off about New Zealand swimmers or their coaches he needs to accept the biblical order, “Physician heal thyself.”

Dear Mr Johns,

Please do your job. Session Six of the National Short Course Championships ended twelve hours ago and there are still no results on the website. We deserve better than that. This maybe something the new President, Dave Gerrard, could fix.

David Wright