The future of world swimming is being played out before our eyes. Sadly New Zealand is being left out. Abandoned, we have not even received an invitation to the dance. New Zealand swimming is going to be absent from the top tier of world swimming, relegated to second class status. Cotterill, Johns and Francis will eventually realise world swimming has passed us by. Of course they will blame the clubs and the coaches. But the failure will be theirs and they should never be allowed to avoid the blame.

So what is this future that will pass New Zealand by? It was described recently by Craig Lord on the Swimvortex Facebook page. The table below shows a summarised version of what’s been going on.

So there it is; the professional future of world swimming. It is as obvious as the nose on your face. Swimming is moving steadily along the path followed by world tennis, and athletics. In tennis the Australia, French, Wimbledon and US open events have more status than the Olympic Games. In athletics the Diamond League is growing in stature every year. Just ask Tom Walsh or Rafael Nadal. I’m pretty sure they will confirm that being in the top tier of their sports means competing in the Open tennis events or in the Diamond League.

In swimming, very soon, the same standard is going to apply. Swimmers not included in the 256 swimmers (eight teams of 32 swimmers in each team) competing in the ISL competition are going to be outside the best the sport has to offer. In future years every Olympic champion is going to be one of the highly paid professionals taking part in the ISL world league. Nothing is more certain than that.

And where is New Zealand in all this? Nowhere is the answer. I doubt that Cotterill, Johns or Francis even know that the ISL is happening. And if they do, my guess is, they probably don’t approve and, like FINA, believe the ISL should be resisted with all New Zealand’s might. Athlete welfare, swimming millionaires and sporting democracy are very low on Swimming New Zealand’s order of priorities.

Their cavalier disregard for refugee, Eyad Masoud’s application to join the IOC refugee team stems from the same pig-headed ignorance and disregard for an athlete’s welfare that has led them is ignore the future of world swimming. The sport in New Zealand is about to pay a very high price for the stupidity of those who live in Antares Place. If Cotterill, Johns or Francis had any idea about the future and good health of swimming one of them would have been on an airplane this week heading to London to secure a place in the ISL’s chosen 256 for Clareburt, Hunter, Godwin or one of a handful of others.

But, oh no, there is nothing in it for Cotterill, there is nothing in it for Johns and there is nothing in it for Francis so why should they bother. Besides, the Godfather of New Zealand sport, Peter Miskimmin, might not approve. So let’s put on another training camp. Let’s make a Cotterill song and dance about paying a trivial $400 contribution to a $5,300 travel bill. Let’s include Daniel Hunter’s name on a Francis Folly list. Let’s give them a SNZ t-shirt and a cap with their name on it. That should keep the troops happy. Hunter and Clareburt never wanted to be millionaires anyway. Besides we sure as hell can’t have swimmers earning more than any of the residents of Antares Place. Who do those swimmers think they are – Tom Walsh or Rafael Nadal – ridiculous?

I have little doubt that the warning contained in this post will be ignored just like ten years of warnings about the stupidity of centralised training were ignored. When finally SNZ realised the futility of their centralised training policy – Swimwatch was right – it was all years too late. The damage was serious. Repairs will take years. My guess is the same thing is going to happen with the ISL competition. Instead of getting New Zealand involved from the beginning, the attitude of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost will be to do anything but agree with David Wright. I guess that means, in ten years,  when a couple of New Zealand’s best swimmers should be enjoying retirement in million dollar homes in Wanaka or the Bay of Islands, instead I will be writing another, “I told you so” story.

Sadly that will all be too late for this and the next generation of New Zealand’s best swimmers.

Let’s begin this Christmas post by discussing the performance of Swimwatch during 2018. The blog published 60 articles (this is number 61) and was read by 62,273 unique visitors. That compares with 28,000 in 2017 and 16,000 in 2016. To be fair those two years were affected by my coaching contract in Saudi Arabia. This year’s total is well short of the 2011 record year when the blog was read by 124,000 visitors. That was the year Peter Miskimmin conned Brian Palmer and Bronwen Radford and orchestrated a fatal coup of Swimming New Zealand (SNZ). Interest in the devious political intrigue at the time was high.

Not that the popularity of Swimwatch did much good. Miskimmin won, the constitution was changed, democracy in swimming died and the sport began a steady and inevitable slide into oblivion. Eight years later and every measure of performance has collapsed. Membership numbers are down. Income is down. International results are down. The only measure to go up is staff turnover. SNZ demanded that New Zealand’s best swimmers transfer to the national training programme and provided them with eight national coaches in eight years. The negligence involved in forcing swimmers like Lauren Boyle, Mathew Stanley and Mellissa Ingram to accept a coach a year was stunning. But did SNZ care? Did they even apologise? Did they acknowledge their role in destroying a generation of New Zealand talent? No, of course they didn’t.

Instead SNZ roll on convinced of their divine right to rule; certain that the sport is there to make a generous living for them. The 2018 New Zealand team sent to the World SC Championships is a classic example of the depths to which Cotterill, Johns and Francis will descend. While the swimmers were each invoiced $5,300, Francis and his fellow bureaucrats made the journey on the sport’s dime. The blind greed, the savage exploitation of that decision should never be forgotten; must never be forgiven.

No wonder the world’s best swimmers stood up to FINA in 2018 and demanded reform. When SNZ and FINA treat swimmers like slaves they forfeit the right to rule. The new ISL rebel organisation does not operate in a vacuum. In 2018 ISL found a receptive audience because of the naked greed of administrators like Cotterill, Johns and Francis.

But don’t expect those three to change their ways. These leopards are not about to change their spots. They are batting on a good wicket and that’s where they intend to stay. A couple of Swimwatch posts ago I included a quote from the Cuban freedom fighter, Che Guevara. He said, “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.” That is exactly what is needed in FINA and SNZ. The apples have to be made to fall. 2018 has shown us that FINA and SNZ are not about to accept reform. Making life better for swimmers and swimming is not on their agenda. Eventually the swimming communities worldwide and in New Zealand are going to realise that truth and are going to turf bureaucrats like Coterill, Johns and Francis into the garbage can of swimming history. World class swimmers are moving in that direction using the American courts. New Zealand will follow. It is a legal case we intend to pursue in New Zealand in 2019. The rebellion that began in 2018 cannot have its conclusion come soon enough. I suspect the New Zealand High Court will be adept at picking apples.

In almost everything SNZ do, you can find deceit; some of it mild, some of it deadly serious. Take this week’s announcement of the entry numbers for the New Zealand open-water championships. Here is how the SNZ website trumpeted that news.

That is true. However it is also a lie. You see the extra numbers are the result of adding three new events. In previous years there were two open-water championship events. This year there are five championship events. The news report is simply not comparing like with like. Swimmers have been stolen from the EPIC program to earn more money for SNZ – hardly the way to treat a loyal sponsor.

The reality is that in the main 10k event 36 swimmers have entered the 2019 race. That is exactly the same number as entered the same race in 2016. The SNZ headline is a classic con. Double check everything. Don’t believe a word they say.

I object to the SNZ decision to steal swimmers from the EPIC races in order to earn more money for themselves. In my view it is a disgusting way to treat a loyal sponsor. But worse than that is what is going to happen to the additional income. Experience has taught us that it will all go to improving the lives of Cotterill, Johns and Francis. Daniel Hunter, Simon Perry and Emma Godwin are not going to benefit by one cent from the money SNZ is taking from the EPIC organisation. SNZ steal from everyone to benefit themselves. Anyone who believes for a minute that Cotterill, Johns and Francis have a shred of love for swimming and its members, in my view is sadly blind to the reality of the sport. And that is the lesson of 2018.

 The Stuff website reported today that Rotorua policeman Brendon Keenan was able to compete, and win his age-group title, in Saturday’s Tauranga International Marathon. You might think there is nothing too unusual about that. But there is. You see Brendon Keenan is serving a four year suspension from “all sport”.

Keenan was banned in July by the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand, after admitting to importing the drug Erythropoietin, (EPO), which is used by cheats to illegally increase red blood cell production. The suspension was backdated to 7 September 2017 – the date Keenan made the online purchase of the drug.

However, Keenan was allowed to run in Saturday’s race, because it was not considered an Athletics New Zealand ‘authorized’ event, and was operated by an outside promoter – Total Sport.

Stuff reporters asked Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ), Total Sport and Athletics New Zealand for their view on a convicted drug cheat competing in the Tauranga Marathon. The three organizations ducked for cover.

DFSNZ chief executive Nick Paterson said, “It’s all organized sport carried out under the guise of the national sporting organization. What it doesn’t include is social events. I want to see increased leadership on the part of promoters.”

Total Sport event organizer, Jules Harvey, said, “I need to get a bit more information about that.”

Athletics New Zealand chief executive, Hamish Grey, confirmed that the event wasn’t sanctioned by his organization, which he said left him in an unfortunate spot.

“If they’re not under the auspices of the bodies that he was banned from, then there’s nothing we can do, as much as we might like to. In the end, it’s over to each of the promoters, but we would welcome that dialogue.” he said.

Their responses are pathetic. All three organizations have a duty to protect sport from drug cheats – no matter what the circumstances or risks. All three failed in that duty. The only person feeling delighted with himself today is the cheat, Keenan.

Authorities have a habit of being tough when it’s easy and running for cover when the going gets tough. It really annoys me when I compare the way DFSNZ has treated clean athletes compared to their gutless reaction to Keenan.

For example consider their response to the Trent Bray positive test. Trent proved that his sample had baked in the summer sun in an Australian laboratory over the Christmas holiday. Any chemical reaction was possible under those conditions. But did DFSNZ take that into account. Of course they didn’t. Instead of throwing the samples away and starting over again DFSNZ used their wealth to drag Trent through a legal nightmare. Eventually, but only after spending a fortune on legal fees, Trent was cleared of all wrong doing.

Take for example the treatment of New Zealand’s best sprinter, Toni Jeffs. Toni was a big strong girl. She loved working out in the gym and it showed. Because she was female, because she was a sprinter and because she had muscles, DFSNZ wouldn’t leave her alone. She was tested eight times in one year. I don’t feel there is any need for that frequency. When does proper surveillance become harassment? Actually the number of tests would have been nine. I got Toni to refuse to attend one of the tests. She had been contacted and ordered to attend a motel in central Wellington. The motel was next to the Salvation Army night shelter. It was not a nice part of town. The motel was best known for renting rooms by the hour. For DFSNZ to use it for a partial medical testing procedure on young New Zealand women was disgusting. Toni’s next test was programmed in the offices of a well-known Wellington doctor; a much better choice.

And finally consider the example of Jane Copland who was drug tested after winning her first medal at the NZ Open Championships. I asked to be sent copies of the paperwork transferring her samples from Dunedin to Australia. I noticed that the sample number sent from Dunedin was different from the sample number received by the laboratory in Sydney. Of course I asked DFSNZ, why? I was told the original paper work was lost between Dunedin and Auckland. Fresh forms were prepared in Auckland for the trip to Sydney. I was told not to worry. The samples were the same. Everything was going to be fine. The right thing to do was to throw the samples away and start again. But, like the Trent Bray case, DFSNZ pushed on; blind to honesty, deaf to justice. Jane’s samples tested negative to any drugs; crisis avoided.

You can probably appreciate why, with that history of the poor treatment of honest athletes, I feel aggrieved at the gutless behavior of Total Sport, DFSNS and Athletics New Zealand in the Keenan case. The rules and fairness didn’t seem to worry them when Trent’s samples baked in the sun, or when they were selecting a location to test Toni or when Jane’s paper work went missing. No problems of justice on those occasions.

But when it’s a dishonest policeman, when kicking a rogue drug cheat out of a race is difficult, suddenly it becomes tough. The rule book is brought out not to protect sport or to prosecute Keenan but to provide something for DFSNZ, Athletics New Zealand and Total Sport to hide behind. You can often tell the calibre of those you deal with, not by what they do on good days but by how they react to adversity. Their response to Keenan’s entry into the marathon was gutless and inexcusable. Allowing him to run put back the cause of drug free sport. Those involved, including Keenan, should be ashamed. Keenan is a policeman. He should know that by running in the marathon he was dodging justice. He was using the rules as callously as some mob boss. In my opinion his behavior reflects badly on him and on the organization that employs him.

The three bodies responsible for protecting the rest of us should not copy Keenan’s disregard for justice.

I was interested to read the editorial written by Craig Lord and published on the Swim Vortex website on September 6 2017. In it Lord discusses the bizarre FINA organiser’s approved decision to appoint Park Tae-hwan an ambassador to the 2019 World Championships. Lord’s position is summarised early in the post.

“Forgiveness is essential. To forget and wipe the slate clean and expect that to send the right message on clean sport is folly.”

I agree with that. But before discussing why, I have a confession to make. A few years ago Craig Lord argued strenuously for “shiny” swimsuits to be banned. I, on the other hand, argued that the LZR suits were just fine. They were, I said, simply progress in the same way that the rubber track at Crystal Palace was progress over White City’s cinders. Fibre glass pole-vault poles, titanium golf clubs, composite tennis racquets, carbon fiber skis and tennis hawk-eye machines would all be banned if the Craig Lord logic had its way. But Lord won the day. In July 2009 the suits were banned.  

And Craig Lord was right and I was absolutely wrong. Swimming is a better human competition today than it had become in the yearlong LZR experiment. Lord’s campaign kept the sport alive as a primal contest between human beings.

I suspect his war on the use of drugs is doing the same thing. And on this occasion he will get no argument from me. I think his view that “forgiveness is essential” is important. But so is his stand that once caught the slate should never be wiped clean.

Some would however question the idea that there should be forgiveness. With increasing frequency I hear calls from athletes and commentators that one guilty verdict should mean a lifetime ban. I do not agree. There have been many cases where an athlete has been caught by ignorance or error or misfortune. In these cases capital punishment for a first offense would be excessive.

Take for example Jessica Hardy. At the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Hardy qualified for the USA Olympic Team. A few weeks later Hardy’s attorney confirmed that both her “A” and “B” samples from a test administered on July 4 were positive for clenbuterol. Media coverage of the issue noted that tainted supplements had played a part in some previous instances of bans. An example offered was the American swimmer Kicker Vencill, who won a lawsuit against a company that provided him with tainted supplements that resulted in a positive dope test and two-year ban from the sport.

And of course in New Zealand the Trent Bray case is a classic example of how a clean athlete can fall foul of the testing process. Bray went to the District Court to appeal against a positive test and won. The judge ruled that containers used in the testing were incorrect and that it took too long for the sample to be tested in Sydney. It turned out that Bray’s urine had been lying, quietly stewing, on a shelf in the sun while the laboratory staff went off on a two week Christmas holiday.  

And in my coaching career I had a fifteen year old swimmer tested during the New Zealand National Championships. Because of the Bray experience I asked the NZ Drug Agency for the travel details of the swimmer’s samples. I was supplied with the sample numbers and airway loading numbers for the trip from New Zealand to the testing laboratory in Australia. I was however deeply concerned to see that the sample numbers that left New Zealand and the airway bill record were different from the sample numbers and airway bill number received at the laboratory. Naturally I asked for an explanation. The Agency said they were very sorry but the paperwork had gone missing in Auckland and a new set of papers had been prepared. But, I was assured, the sample was still from my swimmer. For something as serious as a drug test it was appallingly bad management; someone should have lost their job. Fortunately the test was negative.

An even younger swimmer of mine, she was 12 at the time, also had a close call with the drug testers. She had swum well in the morning heats of the New South Wales Championships and qualified fastest for the evening final. When we got into the car to go to the finals I asked if she had enjoyed her afternoon rest. She said she had felt a bit of nasal congestion and so, with a friend, had walked to a local pharmacy and been given some Coldrex. She said it had worked perfectly. I, of course, went crazy. She swam. She won the final and was not tested. But that event taught me that it is never too early to teach swimmers the caution required to stay clean. The swimmer became the most careful and cleanest athlete through the balance of her pretty stellar career.         

And so mistakes do happen. As someone who wrote a lot better than me once said, “Consider this – that in the course of justice none of us should see salvation.” Mitigating circumstances do need to be taken into account; forgiveness is essential.

But forgiveness should not mean reward either. I have no problem with Park being back in the pool. But to reward him as an ambassador to the 2019 World Championships is ridiculous. He is not a role model. He’s a cheat who got caught and has been granted forgiveness. FINA do the sport no favors at all when they act in ways that reward bad behavior. I suspect the decision to make Park an ambassador reflects far worse on those bestowing the reward than it does on Park. But the way FINA behaves I’m not sure our disapproval is going to matter much. A few all expenses paid first class flights to some Asian resort will soon ease the pain of Swimwatch criticism. It will not however justify the reward they have approved for Park.

But I do have one last drug testing story. When Toni Jeffs was swimming well she was forever being called in for a drug test; in competition, out of competition, it was endless. Every two months she had to front up to the testing Agency. I think the fact she enjoyed lifting heavy weights and looked strong made them think she must be cheating. She wasn’t of course. In fact she was very careful, almost picky, about her health food diet. I thought it was tough that one hundred kilometers a week in the pool and five days of weights seemed to make her a target for their attention.

One afternoon I noticed the Drug Agency representative sitting in the stands at the pool obviously waiting for Toni to finish training. I went into the pool shop and bought a packet of Tic-Tac candy. I gave one to Toni who sprinted off down the pool. Gradually she got slower and slower until I provided a second Tic Tac. Off she went again at full speed. This slowing down, Tic Tac, speed-up process was repeated four or five times. The Drug Agency representative recorded every detail. Her pen was working at a hundred miles an hour. Finally she got up and left and we heard no more. Fortunately Toni was not tested in New Zealand for about twelve months after that. Italian peppermint could have had her banned for life.