320 GRIT

Swimming New Zealand has announced the event list for the swimmers attending the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. As expected all the swimmers selected for relays have been entered in a host of individual events.

Swimming New Zealand’s habit of doing that is really annoying. They write eleven pages of qualifying criteria and then, when only two swimmers meet the conditions, select about a dozen relay swimmers and enter them in 28 individual events anyway. I find that stunningly dishonest. Of course Swimming New Zealand can quote numerous “get-out-of-jail” paragraphs from their eleven pages to excuse the behaviour.

If anything, the excuses make the selections worse. They encourage behaviour that looks at rules as conditions to be got around. Swimming New Zealand is supposed to be leading an organization that promotes good behaviour and good sportsmanship where the rules matter. Fundamentally that is a primary purpose of sport in society. These selections have sabotaged that purpose. A dozen team members have been taught that failing doesn’t matter. Worse than that, 5000 other competitors have learned that coming up short is not a difficulty. Just find a way around the problem.

That culture, that environment, is where players using yellow sandpaper begins. It is ironic that Australian Cricket is handing out sanctions to the three players involved in test match ball tampering. It is the culture of the sport led by Australian Cricket that allowed the behaviour to thrive. Swimming New Zealand’s Commonwealth Games selection is guilty of the same negligence; not by omission but by example.

With the exception of Main and Ashby the New Zealand swimmers did not qualify for Commonwealth Games’ individual events. Each air ticket effectively came with a page of yellow sandpaper.

So, what are the individual events entered by New Zealand swimmers? The tables below show the events to be swum each day at the Games and the New Zealanders entered. There are a couple of things I find interesting.

I have heard there has been discussion in Swimming New Zealand about whether swimmers selected for relays should swim in an individual event in the same session. Some swimmers wanted to enter their favourite individual event irrespective of the relays. Some administrators believed that the relays should have priority. I tend to support the administrator’s opinion. A swimmer selected for a relay should have that as their priority. However it seems that the swimmer’s opinion has prevailed. There are seven occasions where swimmers will swim individual events in the same session as their relay event. It is difficult to imagine that relay duties will have priority. And they should. After all, they were selected to swim in the relay; not as an excuse to swim something else. Although this is Swimming New Zealand – you never can tell. Obviously Main and Ashby are excluded because they swam individual qualifying times.

	Events in Same Session
Name	Relay	Individual Event
Helena Gasson	4 x 100m Free Relay	100m Butterfly
Georgia Marris	4 x 100m Free Relay	100m Butterfly
Carina Doyle	4 x 100m Free Relay	200m Freestyle
Helena Gasson	4 x 100m Free Relay Final	100m Butterfly Semi-Final
Carina Doyle	4 x 100m Free Relay Final	200m Freestyle Final
Matthew Stanley	4 x 100m Free Relay	200m Freestyle
Matthew Stanley	4 x 100m Free Relay Final	200m Freestyle Final

Here then is the daily schedule of events together with the New Zealand swimmers entered.

Thursday 5 April AM

Men	Women	Para
100m Backstroke	50m Breaststroke	S7 50m Butterfly
Corey Main	Bronagh Ryan
200m Breaststroke	100m Butterfly
50m Butterfly	Helena Gasson
Sam Perry	Georgia Marris
Daniel Hunter	200m Freestyle
400m Freestyle	Carina Doyle
	400m Individual Medley
	4 x 100m Free Relay
	Helena Gasson
	Laticia Transom
	Georgia Marris
	Carina Doyle

Thursday 5 April PM

Men	Women	Para
Semi Final	Semi Final	S7 50m Butterfly
100m Backstroke	50m Breaststroke	S14 200m Freestyle
50m Butterfly	100m Butterfly
Final	Final
400m Freestyle	200m Freestyle
200m Breaststroke	400m Individual Medley
	4 x 100m Free Relay

 

Friday 6 April AM

Men	Women	Para
100m Breaststroke	100m Backstroke
200m Freestyle	Bobbi Gichard
Matthew Stanley	50m Freestyle
400m Individual Medley	Laticia Transom
Lewis Clareburt
Bradlee Ashby
4 x 100m Free Relay
Sam Perry
Matthew Stanley
Daniel Hunter
Corey Main

Friday 6 April PM

Men	Women	Para
Semi Final	Semi Final	S9 100m Freestyle
100m Breaststroke	100m Backstroke	S9 100m Backstroke
	50m Freestyle
Final	Final
100m Backstroke	50m Breaststroke
50m Butterfly	100m Butterfly
200m Freestyle
400m Individual Medley
4x100m Free Relay

 

Saturday 7 April AM

Men	Women	Para
50m Backstroke	200m Breaststroke	SB8 100m Breaststroke
200m Butterfly	50m Butterfly	SM10 200m Individual Med.
Lewis Clareburt	Helena Gasson
Bradlee Ashby	4x200m Free Relay
100m Freestyle
Sam Perry
Matthew Stanley
Daniel Hunter

Saturday 7 April PM

Men	Women	Para
Semi Final	Semi Final	SB8 100m Breaststroke
50m Backstroke	50m Butterfly	SM10 200m Individual Med.
100m Freestyle
Final	Final
100m Breaststroke	100m Backstroke
200m Butterfly	200m Breaststroke
	50m Freestyle
	4×200 Free Relay

 

Sunday 8 April AM

Men	Women	Para
50m Breaststroke	200m Backstroke	SM8 200m Individual Med.
100m Butterfly	Bobbi Gichard	S9 100m Freestyle
4×200 Free Relay	100m Breaststroke
	Bronagh Ryan
	100m Freestyle
	Laticia Transom
	Georgia Marris
	Carina Doyle
	800m Freestyle
	200m Individual Medley

Sunday 8 April PM

Men	Women	Para
Semi Final	Semi Final	SM8 200m Individual Med.
50m Breaststroke	100m Breaststroke	S9 100m Freestyle
100m Butterfly	100m Freestyle
Final	Final
50m Backstroke	200m Backstroke
100m Freestyle	50m Butterfly
4x200m Free Relay	200m Individual Medley

 

Monday 9 April AM

Men	Women	Para
200m Backstroke	50m Backstroke	S7 50m Freestyle
Lewis Clareburt	Bobbi Gichard	S9 100m Breaststroke
Bradlee Ashby	200m Butterfly
Corey Main	Helena Gasson
50m Freestyle
Sam Perry
Daniel Hunter
1500m Freestyle

Monday 9 April PM

Men	Women	Para
Semi Final	Semi Final	S7 50m Freestyle
50m Freestyle	50m Backstroke	S9 100m Breaststroke
Final	Final
200m Backstroke	100m Breaststroke
50m Breaststroke	200m Butterfly
100m Butterfly	100m Freestyle
	800m Freestyle

 

Tuesday 10 April AM

Men	Women	Para
200m Individual Medley	400m Freestyle	S9 100m Backstroke
Lewis Clareburt	Georgia Marris
Bradlee Ashby	Carina Doyle
4x100m Medley Relay	4x100m Medley Relay
	Bobbi Gichard
	Helena Gasson
	Bronagh Ryan
	Laticia Transom

Tuesday 10 April PM

Men	Women	Para
Final	Final	S9 100m Backstroke
50m Freestyle	50m Backstroke	S8 50m Freestyle
1500m Freestyle	400m Freestyle
200m Individual Medley	4x100m Medley Relay
4x100m Medley Relay

And here is a table showing each swimmer’s events.

Carina Doyle, 100m/200m/400m freestyle, and 4x100m freestyle relay Georgia Marris 100m/400m freestyle , 100m butterfly 4x100m freestyle relay Laticia Transom 50m/100m freestyle, 4x100m medley and freestyle relays Bronagh Ryan 50m/100m breaststroke, 4x100m medley relay Helena Gasson 50m/100m/200m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle and medley relays Bobbi Gichard 50m/100m/200m backstroke, 4x100m medley relay Corey Main 100m/200m backstroke, 4×100 freestyle relay Daniel Hunter 50m/100m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle relay Matthew Stanley 100m/200m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay Sam Perry 50m/100m freestyle 50m butterfly, 4x10m freestyle relay Bradlee Ashby 200m backstroke, 200m butterfly, 200m/400m IM Lewis Clareburt 200m backstroke, 200m butterfly, 200m/400m IM