We have been reporting on the confusion that has plagued Eyad’s Application to the International Olympic Committee (IOC). As normal, Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) has turned what should have been a straight forward clerical process into a bureaucratic nightmare. Our principal problem is the requirement for the NZ Olympic Committee (NZOC) to obtain SNZ approval for any swimming facts included in the Application. As those involved in swimming know only too well, nothing involving SNZ is ever easy. The NZOC are finding that out at a hundred miles an hour. This exchange of emails shows exactly what I mean. First, an email from the NZOC.

Followed by my self-explanatory reply.

What a shambles; the photograph of the Auckland Championship trophy is at the top of this story. Last time I checked Swimming Auckland don’t hand these out to swimmers who come fifth. Seems that is a hard concept for Steve Johns to get his brain around. The guy needs help.

Swimwatch readers will know of our support for New Zealand swimmer’s “Give-a-little” fundraising efforts. We applaud the fundraising initiative of the swimmers. We reject completely the idea that New Zealand’s best swimmers should be forced to raise funds from the public in order to get to a World Championship. Getting swimmers to a world event is Swimming New Zealand’s (SNZ) job. Swimmers paying their own way is a symbol of the organisation’s failure.

But it seems SNZ are oblivious to their failure. Either that or they just don’t care. In the organisation’s newsletter SNZ has gone as far as to advertise five swimmer’s “Give-a-little” appeals. Here is what the SNZ news item says.

The five swimmers who have current fundraising appeals are shown in the table below. The table also shows how much each swimmer has raised. In most cases the $5,300 SNZ is charging each swimmer is still some way away. I recommend to anyone who has a couple of dollars to spare to help these guys out.

Supporting the swimmer’s fundraising does not diminish my contempt for SNZ’s negligence. It certainly does not alter my disdain for the SNZ decision to advertise the swimmer’s appeals. What does that decision say? Seems to me it says, “We screwed up. We can’t meet our obligations. So we want New Zealanders to bail us out and pay for swimmers to represent the country.”

It is shameless. It is corrupt. It is a lie. Several aspects make it below contempt.

First, New Zealanders are already paying. Through the government we pay Coterill, Johns and Francis the best part of a million dollars a year. We pay to support swimmers. We pay so the nation’s best swimmers won’t have to ask for help. We do not pay to support the bloated lifestyles of bureaucrats sitting in Antares Place.

Second, consider what Cotterill, Johns and Francis are actually asking to raise money for. It may seem like SNZ are asking New Zealanders to contribute to the travel costs of five New Zealand swimmers. But that’s not the case. SNZ have abandoned the swimmers so that they can continue to spend a fortune on themselves. Cotterill, Johns and Francis can’t pay for swimmers because all the “normal” funds are being spent on themselves. Paying for swimmers would mean cutting back on their bloated lifestyles. They are certainly not going to agree to that. Drive a smaller car – certainly not. Take a cut in pay – hell no. Work out of a cheaper office – don’t be ridiculous. Cut out unnecessary junkets to Japan and China – that’s crazy. Book cheaper flights – good God we can’t fly on an Asia airline.

The problem with the “Give-a-little” fundraising is that the money is indirectly going to Cotterill and Francis and Johns. By charging the swimmers $5,300 each SNZ are saving themselves $84,800. Where is the $84,800 going? It’s going to pay Francis’ $40 Chinese breakfasts and Johns’ trip to Japan and Cotterill’s director’s fees. You haven’t noticed any of those costs being reduced. Of course not – don’t be silly. There is no need for management spending to be reduced. Not when SNZ can screw a few more dollars out of the New Zealand public and get swimmers to pay for themselves. It is blatant slavery. No wonder Adam Peaty and others are desperate to see a professional league look after swimmers’ interests.

Third, it is interesting to note that 119 New Zealanders have contributed to the five “Give-a-little” appeals. The total donated is $10,442.36. All that is fantastic. But there is a feature of the giving that stands out above all others. Not one cent has been contributed by SNZ, or Cotterill, or Johns, or Francis. Their news item says, “Spread the word to support our swimmers.” That means spread the word to everyone except Cotterill, Johns and Francis. They are not about to spend a cent.

They take plenty though. Johns and Francis cost us something like $300,000 a year. They ask New Zealanders to dig deep to contribute. But don’t expect them to remove the cobwebs from their wallets and donate a few dollars. There is no way in the world that’s going to happen. They are shameless. When there is a real test of commitment, Cotterill, Johns and Francis fall desperately short. When Emma, Ruby, George, Wilrich and Vanessa ask them for help there is nothing. I don’t think Cotterill, Francis and Johns care about the swimmers. As long as Francis gets his fare paid, I suspect, that’s all he cares about. If it wasn’t, we would see his donation to each of the swimmers’ appeals.

The mistreatment of New Zealand’s best swimmers will have two direct consequences. First, swimming membership will continue to decline. Adult swimmers are not going to put up with this abuse. There are better things to do than spend five hours a day in a pool to become an international swimmer only to have three Antares Place fat cats tell you to pay for the privilege of being successful.

And second, New Zealand is going to become the perfect place to nurture the attraction of a professional league. It is impossible to escape the thought that if Cotterill, Johns and Francis are only going to look after themselves, if swimmers are going to have to raise thousands of dollars to swim for their country, then swimmers need to be involved with an organisation that has their interests at heart.

I hope SNZ does continue with their selfish behaviour. I hope Cotterill, Johns and Francis do continue to mismanage the organisation. They are clearly sowing the seeds of failure.  What is going on in FINA with the ISL is the future of swimming. Forget Cotterill, Johns and Francis. They are yesterday’s men. New Zealand’s best swimmers should catch the ISL bus. Swimmers of the world unite.

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.

The previous Swimwatch post discussed the problems I am having getting Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) to approve Eyad’s Application for International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition. Here is the link to that story: http://www.swimwatch.net/2018/11/bastards-known.html

In response to this injustice I have discussed the problem with the Human Rights Commission. Their view is that, before preparing a formal complaint, I should ask SNZ one more time to change its mind. This has been done. I have asked SNZ to reconsider its decision to deny Eyad a New Zealand ranking and only allow out-of-date times in the Performance section of his Application. I am waiting to hear their verdict.

During the course of the conversation with the Human Rights Commission two factors became clear. First, did SNZ receive Government funding? And second, was Eyad’s treatment discriminatory in comparison to other swimmers in a similar position?

The answer to the Government funding question is obvious. SNZ receives about 60% of its income from the New Zealand Government. It would be a very foolish organisation that put hundreds of thousands of dollars at risk by trampling on the human rights of a refugee. But this is Bruce Cotterill and Steve Johns. Anything is possible.

The answer to the second question is just as clear. Of course the decision to deny Eyad a New Zealand ranking is discriminatory in comparison to other swimmers in a similar position.  I have coached three swimmers who lived in New Zealand with foreign passports. They all had national rankings – Rhi had a USA passport, Lara a Netherland’s passport and Rica a German passport. But an even better example is the way SNZ bent over backwards to accommodate the children of, Alex Baumann, the former CEO of High Performance Sport NZ. They were/are Canadians. Not only did they have New Zealand National Rankings they swam in the government funded New Zealand national training squad. Passports were no problem when it came to the Baumann children. In New Zealand there must be dozens of others who have foreign passports and national rankings.

Of course Eyad is being discriminated against because he is weak, he is a refugee, he is Muslim and he is coached by David Wright. For the right-wing low-lifes in Antares Place those are enough reasons to screw him over. We will see how that turns out. Fortunately we live in a country that does not like those who abuse their power and their government’s money.

But not only is the behaviour of SNZ against the law it is an abuse of SNZ’s rules. Consider first the Code of Conduct. Appendix A – Rules of Conduct says this:

I think we have established that Cotterill and Johns are in breach of that requirement.

Their bad behaviour also violates the SNZ “Anti-discrimination and Harassment Rules”. Rule 7.5 says this:

Denying Eyad a national ranking and pushing old performance times is clearly a case of “treating someone less favourable because of a particular characteristic” and therefore in breach of the SNZ Rules. Whether Cotterill and Johns have decided to discriminate against Eyad because he is Syrian, because he is a refugee, because he is Muslim or because he is coached by David Wright I do not know. But beware when those in power decide to abuse that power. We have no idea what will come next. Are Cotterill and Johns going to decide that Jews, or Catholics, or Asians or African-Americans or women don’t merit a national ranking? Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? But remember that is what they have done to Eyad.

And finally SNZ may say that I should have formally complained about their decision. There is a form. It should have been submitted they might say. So here is my formal complaint.

So SNZ, fix the problem. It is not difficult. Recognise Eyad’s national ranking and his most recent performances.

Over the years I have had dozens of swimming people tell me not to cross Swimming New Zealand (SNZ). “They will get even with you,” I have been warned. I have ignored their concerns. Bad things happen when no one speaks up. Speaking truth to power always seemed more important than personal safety.

But today I understand the concern. This week I have been involved in helping Eyad prepare an Application to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to recognise his refugee status. The form required SNZ approval before being submitted to the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) and on to the IOC.

Included in the form were two swimming sections. The first asked for Eyad’s “National Ranking” and the second his “Primary Sporting Achievement(s)”. To fill in the first I went to the “Take Your Marks” website and discovered that Eyad was ranked 20^th in the 50 freestyle and 23^rd in the 100 freestyle. I would imagine that most New Zealanders would look on that as a reasonable thing to do. But not for Swimming New Zealand it wasn’t. Their view was that because Eyad was a refugee, because he didn’t have a New Zealand passport he didn’t have a New Zealand ranking. They would not approve the form unless that section was left blank.

The real reason of course is that Steve Johns will do anything to screw over anyone who has anything to do with me. The fact that Eyad has been bombed out of his home in Syria, does not have a country he can safely call home, has had family killed by the Syrians, by the Americans and by the Russians is of no interest to Steve Johns. Eyad is coached by David Wright. That is enough for SNZ. How can we make his life even more difficult?

Besides, the racist argument that only New Zealand passport holders can have a national ranking is simply not true. I can think of at least two other swimmers (Lara van Egten and Rhi Jeffrey) that I have coached who did not have New Zealand passports and were ranked by SNZ. I’d love to know what the government makes of SNZ’s decision to freeze out a refugee. It contrasts starkly with the caring concern of Immigration New Zealand. The government thought Eyad deserved refugee status and a work permit and a NZ travel document. SNZ won’t even allow him a national ranking. SNZ – racist bastards I have known.

In order to clarify the situation for the IOC I have added a note to the ranking section of the form that says, “Swimming NZ have said that because of my refugee status I do not have a NZ national ranking. However on the “Take Your Marks” website of NZ rankings I am ranked as follows 100 SC Fr 23^rd, 50 SC Fr 20^th. Let’s see if SNZ appreciate the IOC knowing the truth about those who run the sport down here.

But the problems of the ranking section of the form were trivial compared to the effort SNZ went to in the performance section in order to screw over a refugee coached by David Wright. In the performance section I originally said the following:

That was all true. But it wasn’t good enough for SNZ. They came back and said that to sign the form it would have to say this:

In other words SNZ went back to shortly after Eyad arrived in New Zealand and used those swims as a measure of his performance. Obviously he was swimming a lot slower then than he is now.  Eyad has improved at a hundred miles an hour. But SNZ don’t want the IOC to know about that. Not when there were slower times available that reflected the savage persecution Eyad experienced in his homeland. His home pool in Syria was a bombed out shell left by the Russians. SNZ – racist bastards I have known.

And so, for a third time, I redid the performance section. This is what it says now.

Here again that’s all true. In fact most of those results are available on the SNZ website. But argue they might. This is SNZ remember.

I just think it is sad that overpaid right-wing bureaucrats sit in their Antares Place office and figure its fair-game to pick on a refugee. Almost universally the reception Eyad has received in New Zealand has made me extremely proud of my country. The Waterhole Club, the Millennium Swim School, Immigration New Zealand, The Millennium Pool staff, the NZOC and dozens of others welcomed him with warmth and care. The memory of his blood soaked, racist past has faded as New Zealand has become the place he wants to call home.

But there is always a rotten apple in every barrel. In this case it’s pretty easy to identify. Who else but SNZ. Perhaps those who warned me not to cross Steve Johns and Bruce Cotterill were right. Perhaps they are dead set on getting even no matter who they hurt. SNZ – racist bastards I have known.