Sportswire | Nov 25 2008 |
Australian swimmer Nick D’Arcy pleaded guilty to assaulting fellow swimmer and Commonwealth Games champion Simon Cowley in a Sydney bar back in March. D’Arcy and a group of swimmers were celebrating their selection to the Aussie Olympic squad. A dozen drinks later, around 2:30 a.m., an altercation occurred when Cowley allegedly took exception to D’Arcy’s treatment of a fellow swimmer.
It was a short fight. Cowley lightly slapped D’Arcy, and D’Arcy lunged forward and delivered a single vicious punch that shattered Cowley’s face like it was a dinner plate, fracturing his jaw, nose, and eye socket. D’Arcy was arrested at the bar and later charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm. Cowley underwent surgery, had five titanium plates and twenty screws inserted into his face, and will be spending up to two years in braces until his teeth stabilize. Doctors said Cowley’s injuries were so severe because the tooth-bearing portions of his face separated from the rest of his skull.
The attack cost both men their spots on the Olympic squad—Cowley’s due to convalescence, and D’Arcy’s due to suspension. A prison term could be next for D’Arcy, but indications are he learned little from his recent experience. Speaking after the guilty plea, he said, “I strongly maintain that my actions were in self-defence but I do deeply apologise for the degree of injury sustained by Simon.” Which to our ears translates as: “Nobody is more surprised than me that Simon’s skull is made of pie crust, but I’d hit him again in a heartbeat, along with his stanky old mom and his sister too.”