By David
I used to think this oath was too long and unnecessarily repetitive. A promise to tell the truth presumably included the whole truth and nothing but the truth. By saying, “the truth” weren’t the phrases, “the whole truth” and “nothing but the truth” made redundant? Then I came back to New Zealand and saw the works of Jan Cameron, Mike Byrne, Ross Butler and their leader Murray Coulter. Suddenly it became clear. The oath that has been a staple of English law since the 13th century was repetitive for a reason. Faced with devious buggers capable of manipulating and twisting the truth it is important to refer to the truth in all its aspects. “The truth” simply refers to the correct information. “The whole truth” is different because the addition of “whole” means nothing should be left out. And finally, “nothing but the truth” prevents the truth being embellished by opinion or spin.
It is just as well the Coulter gang has never been asked to swear an oath of honesty. Their reporting of Swimming New Zealand’s position is neither correct nor whole. And certainly it is always embellished with their opinion and their spin. Consider their reporting of the recent World Championships in Shanghai.
It means that this New Zealand team has become the most successful in terms of number of finals and semifinals. They have now qualified in four finals and six semifinals which bettered the previous best in 2007, although Danyon Loader’s lone haul of three medals in 1994 is the best in podiums.
It actually upsets me to report on this widely published paragraph. First of all it’s not true. At the Montreal 2005 World Championships New Zealand had a far higher number of final and semifinal swims – it’s hard to find the data but I think that team swam in thirteen semi finals and eight finals compared to four and eight so far in Shanghai.
However the worst aspect of comparing final and semifinal results is the meaningless ignominy of it all. The people of New Zealand have paid that Cameron woman sixteen million dollars over ten years to get us a result in a swimming pool. In that time she has appointed her son and imported a number of foreign coaches, one of whom is still here, to help her win a world championship swimming race. And none of them have delivered. They have all failed. Better than that – they even have the country talking about getting into a semifinal as though it was a gold medal occasion – a victory for Swimming New Zealand’s high performance program – a dazzling return on our combined investment. Jan Cameron and her imported foreign coaches have successfully lowered the swimming expectations of our proud little country.
Let there be no misunderstanding, in certain circumstances a semifinal or a final swim can be an important individual achievement; certainly something worthy of celebration. However as the culmination of a ten year program and a sixteen million dollar investment it is a scandal. To be using words like “most successful” and “outstanding” in this context stains the history of New Zealand swimming.
What is Cameron’s next claim to fame going to be? We had more personal bests than the Americans. We set more national records than the one swimmer representing the US Virgin Islands. Or perhaps she will claim that only the New Zealand team managed to set a new Auckland Regional relay record. Certainly we will be told that New Zealand’s “One Team” is on track to score big in the London Olympic Pool. We just need a little more work on some starts and turns and all will be well. The number of times Jan Cameron has banged on about the starts and turns of the New Zealand team, our swimmers should be the best in the world at that by now.
In another report Swimming New Zealand told us that “Lauren Boyle will drag her tired body back to the pool for one more big effort to cap off an outstanding 14th FINA World Swimming Championships in Shanghai”. The reality is that Lauren Boyle deserves better. So far she has placed sixth in the 400, twelfth in the 200 and eigth in the 800. That is good, that is progress but it is not outstanding. And Lauren Boyle does not deserve to be lied to by the organization she represents. That sort of misinformation has gone on for too long. Cameron and her Swimming New Zealand mates have lavished similar unearned acclaim on Daniel Bell. The error of that was finally exposed in Shanghai. Tell your swimmers the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. They can take it and will respond far better than to a truck load of meaningless Australian spin. We can only hope Regan is not participating in the same deception.
Does anyone think for a minute that Michael Phelps’ coach would be reporting sixth, twelfth and eigth as an outstanding result? There is not one person on the American team, or the French, or the German teams that would call that result “outstanding”. Only Jan Cameron tells her sport and her financiers that losing is a victory. Faced with the same result the Americans would be looking seriously at what had gone wrong. Why had they failed to win their event? The problem with calling sixth, twelfth and eigth “outstanding” is that it reduces the edge to do better. If sixth is as good as it gets why push for more?
In a comment on last week’s Swimwatch article I recounted the following story about Arthur Lydiard.
When I was coaching Toni Jeffs we went to what was then the World Short Course Championships. Toni won a Bronze medal in the 50 freestyle. Toni thought she should have done better but I was pretty happy with the result. When we got back to Auckland I went around to Arthur Lydiard’s home to report on Toni’s success. He patted me on the shoulder and gently said, “A Bronze is not really good enough, David. Toni is right; we go to World Championships to win them.”
But then Arthur Lydiard and Arch Jelley and Duncan Laing are men who tell or told their sport the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; a scarce quality in New Zealand swimming these days.
