Two previous posts have discussed the accusation of discrimination against Swimming New Zealand (SNZ). We have argued that denying Eyad a national ranking and pushing old performance times is clearly a case of “treating someone less favourably because of a particular characteristic” and therefore in breach of New Zealand law and SNZ Rules. Whether SNZ decided to discriminate against Eyad because of his nationality, his refugee status or because he is coached by David Wright I do not know. All I do know is that discrimination has occurred and it is causing serious hardship.

We should now address the reasons given for SNZ’s decision to decline Eyad’s Application for IOC support. Here is the NZOC’s email on the subject.

In my opinion, the email has many contradictions and half-truths. It appears to be an effort to explain away blatant discrimination. Clearly no one is going to admit to acting in a discriminatory manner and so this is what SNZ is saying instead.

Excuse One – It has to do with the fact the Swimming NZ rankings have not been updated since March 2017 and therefore, prior to his registration as a Swimming NZ member.

This is either not true or the most appalling condemnation of SNZ administration. Every swimming result in New Zealand is automatically forwarded to the SNZ’s data base. SNZ use that information to rank swimmers all the time. They decide on who will attend national training camps, who will be on teams and who will receive funding all the time based on swimmers’ rankings. To suggest this has not happened since March 2017 is simply not true. Eyad’s national ranking could be confirmed instantly by a simple interrogation of the SNZ data base. Publication is a completely different thing from available to confirm. SNZ has lied; this time to the NZOC.

Excuse Two – Take your Marks is not the official ranking system of Swimming NZ and as such, we cannot use it.

Because SNZ had not published a National Ranking List, for close to two years, we consulted the Take Your Marks (TYM) website. TYM has been working with Swimming New Zealand since 2003 to develop a fully searchable online database of NZ meet results. This relationship has resulted in a high quality repository of national performance data and the introduction of the XLR8 and Kiwi Rankings. For fourteen years TYM was SNZ’s only approved source of national rankings. It is a distortion to refer to TYM in terms that suggest second rate and unofficial performance. That is not true. In addition, of course, if SNZ are so slack that they have not published a ranking list for two years TYM is the obvious alternative. Besides which Eyad’s TYM ranking shown on the form could and should have been confirmed by a couple of clicks of a SNZ mouse. Instead SNZ chose to screw the swimmer.

Excuse Three – He does not have a FINA world ranking.

We know that and that is why Eyad’s Application has N/A in the FINA ranking section. It should be noted that Eyad does not have a world ranking only because the SNZ administration has been too lazy to forward his National SC Championship swims to FINA for inclusion in their world ranking data. His lack of a world ranking is the fault of SNZ, not Eyad.

Excuse Four – His 2018 results are what they are. They are not out of date, they represent his results from 2018.  

This effort to claim that early 2018 results are the best available is a terrible injustice. The difference of half a year to a swimmer like Eyad is a life time. In the second half of 2018, leading up to his NZ National SC Championship results, Eyad swam close to 3000 kilometers. Of course there is a difference between his best performances prior to the 3000 kilometers and after that training. Why would SNZ want to use the early 2018 data when late 2018 data is available? The only possible explanation is in order to hurt his application.

Excuse Five – If he does not meet the criteria of high level achievement, we cannot begin to extrapolate information to seem that he has this.

I do not understand how “extrapolating information” that is six months and 3000 kilometers old is being promoted as more accurate than up to date information. Why would old slow times be preferred to new fast times if it was not to hurt Eyad’s Application. The implication of cheating is rejected. All the new times and results used in the Application can be confirmed in an instant through the SNZ data base.

Excuse Six – Swimming NZ has in fact been supportive of this application, as has NZOC, but we are not willing to submit an application that does not reflect an accurate and true reflection of the athlete’s current performance level.

I think we have been able to clearly prove that the data we provided in support of Eyad’s Application is “an accurate and true reflection of the athlete’s current performance level”. Nowhere in SNZ reply have they been able to point to data that is not true. Nowhere have they shown errors in the information provided. The implication that we have lied in preparing the Application is rejected completely. However we can show that the decision of SNZ to claim national rankings list do not exist and to present months old data instead are wrong and untrue. That distortion is discriminatory and is currently hurting and potentially could end Eyad’s swimming career.

Finally, the question of what does Eyad want to achieve from this complaint? We do not seek compensation or an apology. All we ask is for SNZ and the NZOC to submit the up-to-date and accurate Application Form that we sent to them, to the IOC for their consideration.