I spent a year recently coaching swimming for the Saudi Arabia Swimming Federation. And it just about drove me mad. On the world honesty index Saudi Arabia languishes in 62^nd place. New Zealand is first. I quickly worked out why Saudi Arabia scored so poorly. Every time I turned around someone was up to no good. It was everywhere. But it was especially obvious in the selection of national teams. The most important international event on the Saudi swimming calendar is the annual Gulf States Championships. Arab pride is on the line. When I arrived the Saudi Federation had just published the qualifying standards for the 2016 GCC meet. There were “A” times and “B” consideration times. It looked very professional but it was all a sham. In the first week I realized that very few swimmers were capable of swimming the times. The schedule had been published simply to make someone in the Saudi Federation Head Office look good. And sure enough, as the competition date got closer and the Saudi GCC team had only a couple of swimmers, I began to get frantic phone calls asking me to supervise time-trials for swimmers, from God knows where, who I was told, were on the verge of swimming glory. No one ever qualified.

A week before the meet the Saudi Federation announced a team of about thirty swimmers. I don’t know how many had swum the qualifying time; certainly no more than four or five. The others were picked to make the Saudi Federation look good in the opening ceremony. It was classic sporting corruption and is why Saudi swimming is as bad as it is. The message to every swimmer was, “You don’t need to swim fast. We will find a way to select you anyway.” And it has had an effect. The Saudi men’s national 100 meter championship was won, a couple of weeks ago, in 58 seconds.

While dishonesty on that scale can be expected in Saudi Arabia, it is not the way things should be done in New Zealand; except it seems in Swimming New Zealand. Oh, Swimming New Zealand is more cunning than the Saudi officials. When the New Zealand qualifying times were published Swimming New Zealand slipped into the qualifying booklet a series of carefully crafted “get-out-of-jail” clauses. For example;

“The SNZ Selection Panel will consider Athletes who has or have a track record of sufficient quality and depth that the selection panel believes demonstrates that the Nominated Athlete(s) will be competitive at the Games and will perform creditably in that Individual Event or Relay Event.”

“The SNZ Selection panel may consider Athletes who have not met the requirements but who is/are considered by the SNZ Selection Panel to have demonstrated the ability to meet the Over-Riding Nomination Criteria.”

In other words, if Swimming New Zealand are in a corner and no swimmers are fast enough, they can pick anyone they like. It’s a sham of Saudi proportions. Except in New Zealand it is given a veneer of respectability. I’m not sure which is worse, Saudi open dishonesty or the Swimming New Zealand cover-up.

And the New Zealand relay selection policy is equally corrupt. Swimming New Zealand has added ten unqualified swimmers into the team using the relay selection procedure. The criterion for relays is third in the Commonwealth. At the time of publishing the standards, there were not even three Commonwealth countries with relay times in two events. As long as the New Zealand swimmers could blow bubbles underwater, they were going to be good enough.

But now that various Commonwealth countries have swum their trials we can calculate where New Zealand stands. The table below shows New Zealand’s actual relay position. The table calculates our place by listing the four fastest swimmers for each relay and adding a 2.4 seconds change-over allowance. Remember, when you are looking at these numbers, the position could be worse. I have shown figures for just one UK team. The reality is there will be four teams representing England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Two or three could easily be faster than New Zealand.

Women’s 4×100 Freestyle

Men’s 4×100 Freestyle

Women’s 4×100 Medley

Men’s 4×100 Medley

Women’s 4×200 Free

Men’s 4×200 Freestyle

That’s what the numbers say. In two relays New Zealand is fourth. In the others the New Zealand team is fifth and last. No relay meets the selection criteria of being third ranked in the Commonwealth. Ten swimmers are going to Brisbane in a Saudi style scam. But the real problem is not that swimmers are on the team that should not be there. The real problem is the message their selection sends the sport.

The Swimming New Zealand Board has just taught ten swimmers that near enough is good enough. All that’s needed to be selected is to get close enough and Swimming New Zealand will find a way to get you on the airplane. Champions do not come from a “close enough will do” environment. The Board of Swimming New Zealand has committed the most serious sin of all. They have lowered the achievement bar. They have rewarded poor performance. And they too will be rewarded in kind.

I have had four Olympians train in my team, one of them a gold medallist, and they would all see the actions of Swimming New Zealand in selecting this team as an insult. None of them would accept the selection. They had way too much pride for that. There are some rules that cannot be broken.

Let me tell you a story that illustrates the difference between the decisions a winner takes and the dead-beats that populate Antares Place. A few years ago in Berlin Jane Copland broke a New Zealand age group 100 IM record. I told Arthur Lydiard about the swim and he said, “Don’t submit the paperwork for the record. Tell Jane only an open record will be ratified.”

I told Jane her age group swim was not fast enough. When she set an open record I would submit the application. Six months later Jane set a New Zealand Open 200 metre breaststroke record.

Compare the lesson in Arthur’s story with the “unearned-candy” policy followed by Swimming New Zealand today. That’s why Arthur coached ten Olympic medals and this Swimming New Zealand Board has none.

Of course Steve Johns is being quoted in the media as saying he is sure the team will perform brilliantly. He does himself no favours; selling that “never-never-land” fairy tale. Swimming New Zealand may be about to appoint a new Targeted Athlete & Coach Manager. After this selection fiasco the first target of his or her attention should be the staff of the organisation, especially the boss. And after that, if it was me, I’d scratch all New Zealand’s Commonwealth relay entries. They have not been earned. The lesson learned from that action would give us a chance in Tokyo. Continue with this sort of selection policy and there is no chance. Why? Because at the Olympic Games near enough is not good enough.